The Demons in my Head
by Kalika Kai 1127
Summary: Originally posted on Eternal Destiny. 500 years after Kagome's time, a new threat rises. Humans are being infused with demon souls. Demons are running in fear. Kagome is a cold hearted killer. The world is at war. Can Inuyasha save Kagome from herself? FULL SUMMARY INSIDE. Should be rated MA, but that's not an option... Just a fair warning to all of you that it should be MA not M!
1. Prologue

The Demons in my Head.

Summary; She was no longer the women I know; she was now a monster. Long gone was the caring heart, the sweet voice, the concern for everyone but herself. In it's place was the cold blooded killed that stared down at me with dull, emotionless, icy eyes. What happened to you Kagome?

He couldn't be here. He died. He died in the time I was born in; he died with the explosion that destroyed my home. I buried his body. I watched as they lowered him into the ground. His body rotted away; this can't be him. But what if it is him? ...Where have you been these five hundred years Inuyasha?

*Intended to be a "flipped" like story. Each chapter will be told in either the point of view of Inuyasha or Kagome. First chapter (prologue) is Inuyasha's. Second chapter is Kagome's. Third will be Inuyasha's. And so on.

Prologue 

The light was too bright, it was shining right in my face, blinding me, ripping away my ability to see anything around me. People were screaming, something around me was crashing, and there was the scent of blood everywhere. The blood of my friends, of my family, the blood of people I didn't even know, and the blood of the demon who had brought this all on. The ground under my feet was shaking, cracking, and falling apart around me. I could feel pieces of it slipping from beneath my feet even if I couldn't see it.

Sango was screaming in my ear, asking me if I knew what was going on. How the fuck could I know what was going on? I was in the exact same situation she and Miroku were in! I opened my mouth to answer her, and the light around me got brighter; if that was even possible. Now, instead of just making it impossible for me to see, the light made my eyes feel like they were melting right out of my skull. I screamed, my hands flew to my eyes to at least attempt to shield them from the light. Miroku and Sango were screaming with me, and I knew the light must have been melting their eyes as well.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome's voice filtered in through the pain, and through the screams the three of us were making. No, she couldn't come in here, not until I had everything under control. I couldn't imagine those beautiful eyes melting out of her head.

"Stay back Kagome!" Through the blinding white I saw a flash of pink, and I knew she had shot an arrow at the demon behind me. I heard him screech, and I felt the ground shake as his body hit the ground. I could hear him melting under the light as well, could hear his skin dissolving and I knew that would happen to Miroku and Sango and I if we didn't get out of here now. As I thought this, the light around us began to fade, and the pain in my eyes receded. Oh thank the gods!

I could make out the outline of the people I called family standing twenty feet away from us. Slowly the features on their faces came into view; Sesshomaru, Shippo, Kouga, and then there was Kagome. Standing tall and proud as she beamed up at me. We did it, again. We killed the demon who threatened all of us, once again. As I took a step toward her, I watched as her smile faded. Her eyes widened, and she took a step towards me, dropping the bow in her hand. It clattered rather loudly on the ground.

"Inuyasha!"

There was more pain, a searing pain that ripped through my body and had me dropping to my knees where I stood. I screamed, feeling my body wither on the ground. Faintly I heard the reactions of the two beside me, they seemed to be mirroring my own. But I could no longer pay attention to them. I was losing my grip; I could feel my body slipping away from me. What was happening to me!?

And suddenly all the noise stopped at once. We all stopped screaming, we all stopped moving. The building around us stopped crumbling to the ground in heaps of useless stone and metal. Kagome's face was hovering above me, tears streaming down her face. Her lips were moving, but I couldn't figure out what she was saying. I wanted to reach up and wipe the tears from her face and tell her that I was fine, but my body wouldn't listen to me. I couldn't move.

"Don't die Inuyasha… Please don't die!"

Die? I was dying? Why was I dying? I felt fine… expect for not being able to move I mean. I wasn't in pain, I don't even think I was injured that much to begin with. Why would she think I was dying? The light was back, shining brightly in my eyes. I wanted to tell her to move away from that light before it burned her eyes, but she didn't seem to see it. She didn't even know it was there.

Oh no. Was this? … No. I wasn't dead. I was fine. I could see them. I could see all of them looking down at me, at Miroku and Sango… Why were they all crying? I was fine damnit!

"Inuyasha…" The voice seemed to pull me away from my body, and I was looking down at the group who was crying for me. Even Sesshomaru was crying; thought not nearly as bad as the others. He was discreetly wiping the tears off his face before anyone saw them. That made me feel warm and fuzzy; happy to know that at least my brother, my only biological family I have, was crying because I was dying…

I turned my head towards the voice, and saw that Miroku and Sango stood there, waiting for me. They were holding their hands out to me. I looked back, away from them, and saw their children cluttered around their bodies. Oh no. We really did die…

"We have to go Inuyasha." Miroku said slowly, sadly, and I whined. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to leave Kagome!

"There's somewhere else we have to be." Sango continued. "You'll see Kagome again. I promise."

I turned back to her, saw the sincerity in her eyes and couldn't help but believe her. She was so sure of herself, so sure of her promise; how could I not believe her. I took their hands, and I let them pull me into the light…

And when I stepped out, I was standing in the ruined city that was once Tokyo…


	2. 1: You can't be here You're dead

The Demons in my Head

Summary; She was no longer the women I know; she was now a monster. Long gone was the caring heart, the sweet voice, the concern for everyone but herself. In it's place was the cold blooded killed that stared down at me with dull, emotionless, icy eyes. What happened to you Kagome?

He couldn't be here. He died. He died in the time I was born in; he died with the explosion that destroyed my home. I buried his body. I watched as they lowered him into the ground. His body rotted away; this can't be him. But what if it is him? ...Where have you been these five hundred years Inuyasha?

Chapter One

That day had started off like any other day. The sun was shining in through my window, turning the green of my carpet the color of emeralds. I had been awake for a while, just sitting on my bed, staring at nothing. I don't know why I was awake so early, maybe it was because I knew that I still wouldn't be able to go down the well again. I didn't know how I knew it, I just did… There was something wrong. It was like I could feel something coming for me; and the well wasn't there to comfort me this time. I had had this feeling before, many times, but then I would get close to the well and I would feel relieved; and whatever was coming for me would vanish…

But I couldn't go down the well anymore. It had sealed itself. I was locked in my own time, and I had left Inuyasha behind with no explanation. He was going to think I had abandoned him; that I had left him because I never wanted to spend my life with a hanyou to begin with. I felt tears pooling in my eyes; no, he knew I didn't care that he was a hanyou, I had never cared. He was just Inuyasha to me, claws, fangs, bad attitude, dog ears and all… And I so desperately wanted to see him.

There was a knock on my door, and my mother slowly let herself into my room. She looked worried, and I knew I must have looked pale to her. I hadn't eaten anything in three days; not since I found out that I could no longer go through the well. How was I supposed to react? Was I supposed to be happy that I could never see Inuyasha or my friends again? Was I supposed to really just continue on with my life just like that, as if nothing had ever happened? No. I didn't think I was. Besides, I couldn't do that even if I wanted to. I was never going to get over Inuyasha, and I was always going to miss Miroku and Sango terribly.

"There's someone here to see you Kagome." My mother whispered to me. She obviously wanted to say more, but I couldn't answer her. I couldn't even really look up at her and meet her eyes. I just sat there, frozen, while she turned away and talked to whoever it was who wanted to see me. She had brought them upstairs? That wasn't like my mother; but maybe she knew that I wasn't going to get out of bed right then. I didn't catch what she said, but I didn't look up as another people entered the room and closed my door.

It was a man, that much was obvious. He was wearing dark suit pants. He stood in front of me for a moment, and I slowly forced myself to look up at him. Tucked into those dark suit pants was a crisp white dress shirt, the top two buttons undone. He had a suit jacket and a tie slung over one of his arms, and as I took in his clothes he turned and draped them on the back of my desk chair. Who did he think he was? Tossing his things all over my room like he owned it. But I didn't say anything to him. He was still turned away from me, pulling the desk chair out and setting it across from me. His hair was black, falling loose round his head. It was rather long for a man; falling to about an inch below his ears. I could see the glint of silver in his right ear; was that one or two earrings there? His eyes were a dull brown, and as I looked at them, I tried to remember where I had seen them before. His face was familiar as well. Where had I seen him before?

He stayed silent for a while longer, and I was starting to wonder just why the hell he was even here. Did he just come to see me so that he could stare at me for so long? He smiled warmly at me, like he knew what I was thinking, and then he opened his mouth and spoke for the first time since he entered my room.

"Hello Kagome." His voice was familiar as well; though I couldn't place it either. It was deep, rough, a little husky, and it kind of made my heart hurt to hear it. Who was this man? And what did he want with me?

"Maybe this will help." I didn't know what he was talking about, but he reached up to his right ear, unhooked both the earrings he was wearing (so it was two…) and set them down on the nightstand. As soon as his skin was no longer touching the silver, I felt the flare of his demonic aura. It was so familiar to me, that it made me gasp and I reared back from him. His appearance started to change then, starting with the top of his head. The black of his hair lightened, and slowly the color travelled down the short length of his hair. His hair changed from black to silver, and when he turned his eyes back to me they were the familiar amber that I had fallen in love with the first time I had seen them. It was the ears that finally confirmed what I was seeing. The dog ears that twitched on top of this man's head made me want to cry.

Inuyasha…

"Inuyasha!" I nearly screamed, launching myself off the bed. I hugged him, melding myself as tightly as I could to him. I was afraid that if I let go of him, I was going to wake up from this horribly taunting dream and I was never going to see him again. He chuckled in my ear, and he pushed me back a little. I panicked, but then he soft pressed his lips to mine. My eyes widened, and my face turned dark red, but I kissed him back and tried to keep myself from shaking.

"I thought I was never going to see you again!" I cried when we broke apart. I buried my face in his neck, my hand winding its way into his hair. It was so short; I wasn't used to it.

"Demons live a very long time Kagome." He whispered to me, and I paled. He had waited five hundred years to see me? Lived for five hundred years to find me? Oh god. He must love me! If he didn't love me, why would he wait that long just to see me? I could feel tears pooling in my eyes again, and he panicked; just like the Inuyasha I know. "Hey, hey. Don't cry. I'm sorry. Do you want me to go?"

"No! Don't leave! Don't ever leave me!" He chuckled again, and wiped the tears off my cheeks with the pads of his thumbs.

"I won't leave."

"Promise?"

"I promise; I'll never leave you."

"Kagome!"

I jumped, sitting upright in the bed. I growled, glaring at the man who had dared wake me from my sleep. Masaki stood there, his short black hair spiked up and dyed blonde at the ends. His brown eyes widened as he took in my raised arm, my extended claws, and I relaxed as soon as his scent and he face registered in my mind.

"You know it's bad to wake me up." I muttered to him, taking back my claws and flopping back on my bed. I closed my eyes again, trying not to cry at the dream I just had. Inuyasha was gone. He had broken that promise he made to me. He left me. He left me, and he was never, ever coming back.

"I'm sorry, but Sesshomaru's here to see you." I growled, and rolled out of the bed. My feet smacked loudly on the tiles, and I glared at him.

"Well tell him he's going to have to wait until I'm showered, awake, and have had a cup of coffee." I snapped, turning away from him. Masaki looked so much like his parents; so much like Miroku and Sango… He had Miroku's face, and Sango's eyes. It hurt every time I looked at him. I turned back to look at him anyway, trying not to remember the friends I had lost. He bowed to me, and ducked out of my bedroom to tell Sesshomaru something the former Alpha was not going to like.

I walked quickly into my bathroom, frowning at the dark. "Lights." I murmured, and the dull lights overhead flashed on. I had only made them this dull because of my sensitive eyes; all the other lights in the house were brighter than this. I turned to look at myself in the mirror, frowning at my appearance. Sometimes, I forgot that I was a demon, because I had not been born one. I was made into this… Monster that I saw looking back at me. This monster was created to kill people; to kill whoever her "master" sent her after. Too bad I ended up killing my master to begin with.

I could see the fangs I now possessed poking out of my mouth, and I had to smirk. They had to be my favorite thing about being a demon now… My hair was long, much longer than it had ever been in my adventures in the feudal era… Those memories had almost completely faded from my mind; it was so long ago. A thousand years ago… I shook my head, stopping myself from recalling the little that I could about that time. I didn't want to remember. My hair was much longer, falling past my waist and hanging roughly an inch above the backs of my knees. It was the color of midnight; black with faint little silver accents that looked like stars in the sky when looked at in the right light. My bangs fell loosely into my pale, silver, icy eyes. These were the eyes of the killer, not of the miko who had once healed and protected people… I no longer protected people. I was the monster people needed to be protected from.

I turned away from my reflection in disgust, and turned to the shower. "Shower, setting four." I loved having automatic things. Everything now was voice activated, everything was preset the way you liked it, you never had to worry about setting everything just right every time you use it. This particular shower setting was warm, not the usual hot I liked. It was just warm enough to make steam rise up in the air, but not warm enough to really warm my body up; if that made any sense. I was a little colder than the average human, or the average demon. I didn't know why, no one knew; my heart rate was even a little slower than it should have been. If I was a human, my heart rate would mean I was dying… Actually no. If I was human I wouldn't even be able to have this heart beat; I would already be dead. I think it only beats once every three minutes. Which was weird, because even Masaki's heart beat was faster than mine; and he had undergone the same procedure I had. But then again, he was 53% human… I was only 44% human…

I shook my head, focusing on washing my absurd amount of hair, and rinsed the suds out of my hair. It took me ten minutes to make sure I had all of the shampoo out of my hair, and I figured that Sesshomaru wouldn't want to be kept waiting any longer, so I decided to skip the shampoo today. "Shower." The water clicked off, and I reached for the town hanging on the rack outside the shower door.

I bent, wrapped the long towel around my head and slowly twisted my hair into it. Why hadn't I cut my hair yet? Having his much hair was slightly annoying. But I also kind of liked it… When my hair was tied up in what looked like a bee hive design on the top of my head, I grabbed the second towel and started drying my body as I stepped out of the glass walls of the shower. Again I caught my reflection, and I frowned at it. Without my hair falling in my face, my eyes looked a little warmer, but the set of my face didn't. It looked more menacing, more threatening… That, coupled with my pale complexion and the scars I could see littered all over my body, I looked like a force to be reckoned with. And I was. I had five hundred years to train my miko powers, and I had spent three hundred of those years with the powers of a demon. I could shoot a purifying arrow without a bow or an arrow; I could use my spiritual energy to make one. And that, on top of the nearly limitless demonic powers I owned made me lethal.

Of course I was lethal. I was designed to kill things.

As I walked from my bathroom, through my bedroom and into the closet, I wondered for a moment what I was supposed to do today. I had no jobs I had to do, no one I needed to kill… Was today just going to be a lazy meeting day with Sesshomaru again? I sighed, staring at my dark closet. "Lights." I said again, though I really didn't need them to see; I knew where everything was. I reached into the closet drawer and pulled on a pair of black lance underwear and a matching bra. Even after five hundred years it seems these things never changed… I walked further into the closet, taking a moment to look at the hanging dresses I almost never wore… I glanced past them and grabbed the tightest pair of pants I wore; a fabric that was much like denim, except that it almost never ripped or wore out. A good pair of pants to have when you were the Alpha of a pack and a highly trained assassin. I crossed the closet, looking momentarily to the jewelry shelves. As I pulled on a tight black tank top, I tried to remember what I had for jewelry. Many expensive things, loaded with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and pearls. There was the roughly twenty different pairs of earrings I had to conceal my demonic form; though I hardly ever wore those now. I didn't need to; it was only my eyes that gave me away as a demon, as long as I didn't open my mouth, and it was easy to not make any eye contact with someone. There was also the necklace that Inuyasha had given me for my twenty birthday…

No. Don't think about him.

I turned quickly away from the jewelry shelves and excited the closet. I muttered a sour "Lights" on my way out. I snagged my brush off the vanity that was pretty much ancient, and left my bedroom. The hallway I stood in was an old one, nearly eight hundred years old. The walls had been mostly replaced to be made of stone; as were almost all of the walls in this house. It looked like a castle from the outside; and the hallways were decorated with paintings and pictures, hanging swords and trophies… I sighed, heading down the stairs. I was on the third floor, because I wanted to be at the top of the house. I was the only person who had a room up here; and so my room was the largest up there. I slung the towel over the railing on the second floor, decided that I would pick it up later or someone would pick up after me, and I was surprised to hear it slid off the railing almost at once.

"You shouldn't be leaving dirty towels everywhere." I almost laughed at Masaki.

"My apologizes." I murmured to him, and he reached for the brush in my hand. I rarely ever let anyone brush my hair, and if I was going to let anyone at all it was Masaki. He was, after all, my closest friend. And he reminded me so much of his father…

As he started brushing my hair, I forget entirely what I was thinking about. I closed my eyes, purring a little, and I felt myself relax. People brushing my hair had always been the thing that relaxed me the most; which was weird, because I usually didn't like people touching my hair. There was a rhythm to his strokes, and I felt myself getting tired. I tried to open my eyes again, but they wouldn't listen to me. I was so sleepy….

"Come on Kagome." Masaki was laughing in my ear, and I slowly opened my eyes again. "Your hair is brushed, now you have to get your coffee and go talk to Sesshomaru. It's not nice to keep an old man waiting."

"I heard that pup." I grinned down at Sesshomaru who appeared at the bottom of the steps. He was standing in the customary hunters attire; black pants made of those same non-rip material, tight black tank top that almost mirrored mine. I could see the muscles through his shirt, and I was never going to get used to that. Sesshomaru was definitely fit. His normally silver hair was black as ink, and his normally amber eyes were a pale blue. It was odd, to see Sesshomaru as a human. There were three earrings in his ears; all in his left ear. He had to have more piercing than most of the demons around us; I think he was one of the last full blooded demons around. They were rare; demons had been mating more and more with humans and half demons and quarter demons for over five hundred years. There were almost no daiyoukais left.

Masaki just laughed with me, and I slid myself down the railing of the stairs. I know that to Sesshomaru, I was always going to be a child. He was well over three thousand years old already; and I only just over five hundred and twenty. I was an infant to him. But I hugged him like I would any of my family, and he returned it. I had become alarmingly close to Sesshomaru over the years; and I could imitate his cold stare perfectly. But, even though I was a child to Sesshomaru, he bowed his head in respect as I released him. He may be older than I am, but I was still his Alpha. He had given up the position to me; because he couldn't do it after his wife had died…

"We have a little problem." He said to me once I had nodded to him, letting him know that it was okay to return to his original upright position. I frowned at him, wondering what on Earth could make the all powerful Sesshomaru worry. There was no "problem" that we could not handle. We had proven that already. Sesshomaru and I were the best killing team; we always got the job done. Always.

"What?"

"It's in Tokyo."

"There's nothing in Tokyo Sesshomaru. There hasn't been anything in Tokyo for five hundred years. Not since half of it blew up." I glared at him, crossing my arms over my chest. He knew there was nothing in Tokyo. We had been there that day it exploded; the day we lost Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku. He should know just as well as I did that there was nothing left besides the shrine. The only reason any of us had made it out of that explosion was because my powers had flared, putting a barrier around all of us. I hadn't even known why I did it until I had watched the world around us crumble… But somehow Inuyasha was killed by that explosion…

"Well there's something there now." He snapped back, meeting my glare with his own. "There was a spike in demonic aura as well as spiritual power. Someone's trying to draw the power out of the Goshinboku." I stared blankly at him, though I did raise an eyebrow at him. There was no power left in the Goshinboku. It was just a tree now. A tree that was over a thousand years old, but still just a damned tree. "Damnit Kagome!" He sounded so much like his brother then that I paled, felt like my knees were going to give out and I felt myself fall…

Sesshomaru caught me effortlessly, and he quickly sat down on the steps, hulling me into his lap. I hated it when he did this, because it always reminded me just how young I was to him. He always treated me like a child when I was reminded too suddenly of Inuyasha… Masaki was at our side, sitting down beside the both of us. He smiled reassuringly, and I smiled weakly back at him.

"Sorry." Sesshomaru said to me, sighing deeply. "I know I sounded like… Him." It was nearly impossible for any of us to speak his name out loud; no one dared say Inuyasha's name. It was just wrong. He was dead, but no one wanted to speak his name… "But we really do need to check the tree out. He was one sealed to that tree; even if there isn't any actual power left in the tree, there might be some residual power left from him or Kikyo."

"That was a thousand years ago Sess." I murmured, leaning myself against him. Sesshomaru was so much… Nicer now. So much calmer; more caring… I would have thought that after his wife died he would have been ruder, angrier, more violent… But, well, he did meet his soon-to-be-mate. So I guess that was why he was nicer… I thought Sesshomaru said once he would never take a mate; he would marry, but he would never bind himself to someone the way youkai did. I never understood why, but I guess he was lying.

"There could still be power. Tetsusaiga still has power after all these years. And it's been more than a thousand years."

"That's different Sesshomaru."

"How?"

I opened my mouth to answer him, and realized that I didn't have an answer. Tetsusaiga hadn't been used in over a seven hundred years; Inuyasha hadn't even used it during the last battle of his life. There was no room to use it in the streets of Tokyo; any explosion created from one of Tetsusaiga attacks would have killed us… And even though it hadn't been used in so long, there was still power that pulsed through it. It was faint, so faint that sometimes it felt like there actually wasn't anything there, but it was…

"Fine. We'll go. When?"

"As soon as possible."

I groaned loudly, slid off his lap and stood there glaring down at him. I crossed my arms, because I could feel my anger sparking in my finger tips. I stomped my foot and made sure he felt the full stare of my icy eyes. He did, because he shuddered.

"You come into my home, tell me we need to look at something that may or may not even be happening. No," I raised my hand to cut him off when he opened his mouth. My claws were glowing, which mean I was close to literally exploding into flames. "No, it's quite possible that there is nothing going on and this is either just a trap, or someone is trying to fuck with us. And on top of that; you want me to go on this wild goose chase as soon as fucking possible? I haven't even had my fucking coffee yet!" I loved the way Sesshomaru shrank away from me, because both of us knew I was stronger than him. He might be daiyoukai, but I had the powers of at least seven different species of demon in me; there was no way he could stand up to that. Besides, my most dominate youkai powers were Inu and Ryu…

"Kagome, I know you're afraid to go back there…" Masaki started, and I turned on him. I snarled, feeling my demonic side rearing its ugly head. The souls of the demons inside me rose to the occasion, all of them barking orders at me in the back of my mind. I ignore all of them as I glowered at him.

"I am afraid of nothing!" I snapped, feeling the fire swirling around my arms. I took a steadying breath, and closed my eyes. The heat around my arms vanished, and I stared at Sesshomaru with a bored expression. "We'll leave in twenty minutes. I need some fucking food."

I honestly did feel bad for snapping at Sesshomaru the way I had. It's not like it was really his fault. He just wanted to check it out. But I was the Alpha damnit, and that meant I didn't have to apologize when I did something that the other pack mates might not like. I wasn't going to say I was sorry to Sesshomaru, because he should have known that I wasn't a morning person, everyone knew this. It was common knowledge by now. He could have at least waited until I had had my coffee and my breakfast… Was that really too much to ask for in the mornings? I had thought not.

Masaki had agreed to go with us, or rather, he had offered to go with us… I don't know why he would want to go back there, because that was the place that his parents had died… But I had agreed to let him come. Sesshomaru was currently driving the hover car, steering it effortlessly through the sky. I had been amazed by these things when we first got them, but during the first ride in one I had felt like I was flying through the sky on Inuyasha's back, and I had refused to get in one for several years. But now I loved them; loved how effortlessly we moved across the ground. The car we were in now was a silver color, the interior black leather and red wood. It seemed that black leather in a car was never going to go out of style, and I was happy. I liked leather.

I could see the branches of the Goshinboku already; it was much, much taller than it had been last time I saw it. It stretched out over top of the remaining of the building around it… Or maybe it only looked so tall because the buildings around it had shrunken so much that they almost didn't exist. And it was on the hill of the shrine…

Sesshomaru stopped the car in front of the Goshinboku, and I slowly pushed the door up. It hissed a little as it folded up to allow me to slip out. And I stepped outside slowly, carefully, never taking my eyes off the tree. There was still the spot in the tree where Inuyasha had been pinned; it was marked so clearly on the tree that it looked like it was almost yesterday that it had happened. And I wanted to cry. But I kept myself together, because it would not look good to have the Alpha crying.

I turned away from the tree as Sesshomaru stepped out and slung his sword onto his back. I knew sometimes he wished that he didn't have the high-tech crap that he had now, he would have preferred to just have Tokijin again. But he was a little fond of the high-tech stuff at times. It allowed for the full power of a demon sword without giving away the fact that he was, indeed, a demon. The sword he currently had reminded me a lot of Jakotsu's sword, and I think that was who he had it modeled after. A weird choice for Sesshomaru.

"Where did you say this spike was at?" I muttered to Sesshomaru, and Masaki pulled out the scanner he kept with him on missions. He waved it in the air, and if I didn't know what it was I was sure I would have thought he was insane. The beeping it kept making was a little annoying, but as he pointed it at both the tree, and the shrine house, it beeped louder.

"It originated around the Goshinboku." He said finally, playing with the buttons on the touch screen. "And right now it's inside the house. With Souta."

"With Souta?"

"Yeah. A demon and three humans, including Souta. One of the identifieds has high levels of spiritual power."

"Can you get any scents Sesshomaru?" I asked, turning my head. I couldn't catch any, not over the smell of dust, decay, and filth. The land was going to smell like this for at least another five hundred years. But I thought it would be better to ask Sesshomaru, he had a stronger nose than I did.

"Fragments. Sort of. They're too marred by the scent around the place, I can't tell if I know them or not."

I sighed, and moved to lead them to the shrine house. "Come on then, lets find out just who these people are. Is Souta alright?"

"Oh yeah; he's fine. His vitals suggest he's extremely excited though."

"That's odd…" Souta rarely got excited over anything; and he certainly shouldn't have been excited over the strangers that were currently in the shrine house. I wasn't even sure what Souta was even doing back here. He had been in Europe for the last couple hundred years. Why would he come back now, and not tell me?

"Souta, you idiot!" I yelled as I stormed into the house. It was dusty, and desperately needed to be cleaned. I could smell rats around me everywhere. There were four scents in the house as well; Soutas, the one I knew immediately; the warm honey and chocolate. There was one that was spicey, smelled kind of like a wood fire, and one that smelled rather like the ocean. I supposed those were their personalities. The other… Smelled a little like Sesshomaru actually. Woodsy, smelled like pine or oak. With a tiny hint of what might be cinnamon. I heard Sesshomaru curse behind me, and I turned my head to look at him. He had gone paler than usual, and he looked like he was about to throw up; or faint… What was going on? Did Sesshomaru know these people?

"Kagome!" Souta sounded all too happy to hear me, even though I was about to kick his ass into next week. He shouldn't be letting strangers into this house; even if it hadn't been lived in for years. His voice came from the kitchen, and I was rolling my eyes as I rounded the couner.

"I am going to kick your skinny ass into next week boy. What are you doing back here? You're supposed to let me know when you're coming back! It's not safe!" I turned my eyes to the people in the room with him, and I think I turned as pale as Sesshomaru. "No…"

No, this wasn't possible. This couldn't be. How!? No, don't believe it Kagome, it's not real. It's someone trying to get into your head and take advantage of you. I steeled my expression, and glowered at the amber eyed man before me. How dare they turn into him of all people.

"Kagome?" He asked me, and his voice sounded just as I remembered it.

"Sess!" I snapped, ordering him into the room with my voice alone. Sesshomaru stepped around me quickly, bowing his head in respect at the authority in my town. I saw the man's eyes widen, and mine narrowed in response. "Tell me who this man is." I ordered, never keeping my eyes off his face.

"It's…" I could see him struggling to say his name, and he tried several times to get his mouth to form the syllables.

"SAY IT!" I nearly screamed at him, wishing he would say it wasn't the man I thought it was sitting in front of me.

"It's Inuyasha."

"NO!" I screamed at him, twisting my head to look back at the man who had stood up in what seemed like relief. This wasn't Inuyasha. Inuyasha was dead. I was not about to believe that he was truly who Sesshomaru thought he was.

"Kagome, it's really him." Masaki tried to tell me, but I shrugged him off. It was not Inuyasha standing before me, and that was not Sango and Miroku sitting behind him staring at me in wonder.

"No." I said more forcefully than I had screamed it, the voices of the demons inside me melding with my own. "Inuyasha is dead." I spat every one of the words. "We. Buried. His. Fucking. Body." Fake Inuyasha's eyes widened at this, and I sneered at him. I pointed two of my fingers at him, a move that Sesshomaru and Masaki recognized but this mad did not. "Oh not what you were expecting? Did you think I was really going to accept you as Inuyasha? He's been dead for five hundred years you pompous prick. I don't know who you think you are, or what you're trying to do to me. But I will kill you if you lie to me. Tell me who you really are."

He stepped forward, raised his hands in a defensive position and answered me. "I am Inuyasha." He said the words slowly, cautiously, testing them out. I snarled viciously at him and launched the spiritual attack I had been building out the tips of my fingers and to the side of his head. He didn't even have time to move, or to react. There was blood on his cheek from where it grazed him, and the wall behind him exploded with a loud bang.

"Last. Chance. Tell me who the hell you are, or the next one is going in your head."

"Give him a chance to prove it." Masaki said quickly, and I short him a glare coupled with a snarl. He bent at the waist, and turned his head away from me; bearing his neck to me. I stared at him for a moment, wondering if I should forgive him at all. He shouldn't be ordering me around. "Please Kaggy? Give him a chance. What if it really is Inuyasha after all these years; what if he came back. Could you live with yourself if you killed him because you never gave him a chance?" I knew what he was asking me, and I knew the answer was no, but I decided I would go with a much more obvious answer.

"I kill people for a living Masaki. Killing one more would make no difference to me." But I dipped my head in, nipped at his neck and then nuzzled into him. I was forgiving him, because he really did have a point. I lowered my arm, turned my eyed to Sesshomaru an gave him a command. He would follow it, I knew it, he would know from the look in my eyes that if he disobeyed me, I was going to kill him.

"We'll take then back to the pack. They have one chance, and one chance only to prove to me that they are who they are pretending to be. If they succeed, they stay alive. If the fail, I will kill them without a second thought. If you give them any hint as to what I might ask them to do to prove themselves, I will kill you." I said to him, my voice dripping with acid. I really did not like to speak to Sesshomaru like this, but I was Alpha damnit; and we were going to do things my way. "Do you understand?"

Sesshomaru dropped to one knee in front of me, his head lowered in a deep bow. "Of course Alpha." He murmured, and I knew it was hard for him to say. The Great Sesshomaru took orders from no one but me; and to have to publically show that he did take orders from someone, in front of his brother no less, was irritating to him.

"I'm taking the car back. I will send Kabuto with a van to take them back in."

"Really? Kabuto?" Masaki asked quickly, the concern in his voice barely contained. But I still heard it. "He's still healing."

"All he will have to do is drive damnit." I muttered to him, glaring at him. Masaki bowed his head again, and I sighed dramatically, pressing my fingers into my temple. "I know you care for him, so because it's you, I'll send someone else." Masaki brightened as I said this, though he shot a concerned glance to his "parents" who had still yet to say a damned word. I didn't care; the entire world knew Masaki was gay; and if these people weren't really his parents (which I had a feeling they weren't) then he had nothing to worry about. "Tatsumi? Or do you object to her as well?" Masaki shook his head, and I turned to leave and groaned as I saw Sesshomaru still on the floor. I had forgotten to dismiss him.

"Since when do you wait for my dismissal?" I mutter sourly, reaching down and flicking his human ear before I turned my back to the room. "Get up Sess. I will call Tatsumi from the car; she will be here soon. Oh, and Masaki?"

He turned to me, and I leveled him with a dull stare before I turned it on them.

"If they try to escape. Kill them. Don't capture them. Kill them. Chance or no chance. Understood?"

"Yes Alpha…"

I turned my back on the group, ignoring the pang my heart gave off. 'Inuyasha' was staring at me with what looked like tears in his eyes, and that right there was enough to convince me that he was not Inuyasha. Inuyasha didn't cry unless someone was dying.

Though, I absently wondered if he was crying because he realized that the Kagome he once knew had died with him on that day… But I pushed that thought aside and tugged the car into the air. I was getting away from here.


	3. 2: Reborn

The Demons in my Head

Summary; She was no longer the women I know; she was now a monster. Long gone was the caring heart, the sweet voice, the concern for everyone but herself. In it's place was the cold blooded killed that stared down at me with dull, emotionless, icy eyes. What happened to you Kagome?

He couldn't be here. He died. He died in the time I was born in; he died with the explosion that destroyed my home. I buried his body. I watched as they lowered him into the ground. His body rotted away; this can't be him. But what if it is him? ...Where have you been these five hundred years Inuyasha?

Chapter Two

The light was too bright, it was shining right in my face, blinding me, ripping away my ability to see anything around me. People were screaming, something around me was crashing, and there was the scent of blood everywhere. The blood of my friends, of my family, the blood of people I didn't even know, and the blood of the demon who had brought this all on. The ground under my feet was shaking, cracking, and falling apart around me. I could feel pieces of it slipping from beneath my feet even if I couldn't see it.

Sango was screaming in my ear, asking me if I knew what was going on. How the fuck could I know what was going on? I was in the exact same situation she and Miroku were in! I opened my mouth to answer her, and the light around me got brighter; if that was even possible. Now, instead of just making it impossible for me to see, the light made my eyes feel like they were melting right out of my skull. I screamed, my hands flew to my eyes to at least attempt to shield them from the light. Miroku and Sango were screaming with me, and I knew the light must have been melting their eyes as well.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome's voice filtered in through the pain, and through the screams the three of us were making. No, she couldn't come in here, not until I had everything under control. I couldn't imagine those beautiful eyes melting out of her head.

"Stay back Kagome!" Through the blinding white I saw a flash of pink, and I knew she had shot an arrow at the demon behind me. I heard him screech, and I felt the ground shake as his body hit the ground. I could hear him melting under the light as well, could hear his skin dissolving and I knew that would happen to Miroku and Sango and I if we didn't get out of here now. As I thought this, the light around us began to fade, and the pain in my eyes receded. Oh thank the gods!

I could make out the outline of the people I called family standing twenty feet away from us. Slowly the features on their faces came into view; Sesshomaru, Shippo, Kouga, and then there was Kagome. Standing tall and proud as she beamed up at me. We did it, again. We killed the demon who threatened all of us, once again. As I took a step toward her, I watched as her smile faded. Her eyes widened, and she took a step towards me, dropping the bow in her hand. It clattered rather loudly on the ground.

"Inuyasha!"

There was more pain, a searing pain that ripped through my body and had me dropping to my knees where I stood. I screamed, feeling my body wither on the ground. Faintly I heard the reactions of the two beside me, they seemed to be mirroring my own. But I could no longer pay attention to them. I was losing my grip; I could feel my body slipping away from me. What was happening to me!?

And suddenly all the noise stopped at once. We all stopped screaming, we all stopped moving. The building around us stopped crumbling to the ground in heaps of useless stone and metal. Kagome's face was hovering above me, tears streaming down her face. Her lips were moving, but I couldn't figure out what she was saying. I wanted to reach up and wipe the tears from her face and tell her that I was fine, but my body wouldn't listen to me. I couldn't move.

"Don't die Inuyasha… Please don't die!"

Die? I was dying? Why was I dying? I felt fine… expect for not being able to move I mean. I wasn't in pain, I don't even think I was injured that much to begin with. Why would she think I was dying? The light was back, shining brightly in my eyes. I wanted to tell her to move away from that light before it burned her eyes, but she didn't seem to see it. She didn't even know it was there.

Oh no. Was this? … No. I wasn't dead. I was fine. I could see them. I could see all of them looking down at me, at Miroku and Sango… Why were they all crying? I was fine damnit!

"Inuyasha…" The voice seemed to pull me away from my body, and I was looking down at the group who was crying for me. Even Sesshomaru was crying; thought not nearly as bad as the others. He was discreetly wiping the tears off his face before anyone saw them. That made me feel warm and fuzzy; happy to know that at least my brother, my only biological family I have, was crying because I was dying…

I turned my head towards the voice, and saw that Miroku and Sango stood there, waiting for me. They were holding their hands out to me. I looked back, away from them, and saw their children cluttered around their bodies. Oh no. We really did die…

"We have to go Inuyasha." Miroku said slowly, sadly, and I whined. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to leave Kagome!

"There's somewhere else we have to be." Sango continued. "You'll see Kagome again. I promise."

I turned back to her, saw the sincerity in her eyes and couldn't help but believe her. She was so sure of herself, so sure of her promise; how could I not believe her. I took their hands, and I let them pull me into the light…

And when I stepped out, I was standing in the ruined city that was once Tokyo… I could see the mangled shops, the twisted metal sticking out of them like broken bones. Every once in a while I could a heart a stone or a piece of metal crumble under the weight. The air around me stunk like death and decay, and it was covered in dust. I was standing at base of the Goshinboku, at the shrine I had once called home; but even that looked like it was about to fall apart. The once glorious shrine had paint peeling away from it, no glass in the windows, the doors missing. There were pieces of the roof falling off and as I stared at it the only thing I could think of was Kagome. Where was she? Had something bad happened to her? What was going on?

"I thought we were dying?" I hear Miroku whisper as he too took in the appearance of the world around him. There was nothing left of this place… Nothing but the Goshinboku that stood at our backs. I could see it behind me, pulsing with power, almost like it was welcoming me here…

"So did I." Sango murmured, and when I turned to look at them I paled. I could see through them. We weren't actually here. No wonder they were still wondering if they were actually dead; they hadn't looked at each other yet.

"Guys. We are dead." They both wiped their heads towards me, and when they looked at me I knew it had to be true. They both took a stumbling step backwards. We were dead, we were ghosts, looking in on a world that was no longer ours. I wondered about Kagome, wondered what had happened to her, if she was alright… We had just destroyed Vetis. That had been the weirdest name for a demon, I guess he had been born to destroy things. I didn't know why his parents would have named him after a demon that the humans fearing in their myths; the Vetis I had known from the legends was the demon of corruption…

"You're dead for now." I twisted around quickly, looking down at the man who stood before me. His hair was cropped short, shaved at the sides and spiked up in a sort of short Mohawk fashion. His eyes were a pale blue, a color that I actually kind of recognized. He looked no older than thirty, and I didn't understand how this man could see us, or how I could smell his scent if I was dead… But… I knew him. I couldn't place where I knew him, but I knew him from somewhere… A fleeting memory of Kagome flashed in my head. Her kid brother?

"Souta?" He grinned back at me, and I knew I had guess right. "Where are we?"

"Higurashi Shrine." He glanced behind him with a loud sigh. "Or what's left of it anyway."

"What happened?" Souta blinked at me, tilting his head curiously. When had he started doing that?

"You died." He answered simply, like that was the most obvious answer in the world. How the hell could me dying affect what happened to the shrine?

"I meant to the Shrine."

"You died." He repeated, and I thought for a moment that maybe he had hit his head and was no longer okay… "You died, in the explosion that destroyed a lot of the Shrine. And then Kagome and Shippo lost their control; their auras clashes, demon against miko, and it exploded." He pointed behind us to the ruins of Tokyo I had been previously examining. "The explosion their two auras created caused all that damage. It was mostly Kagome's powers to be honest. She purified every demon within a fifty mile radius. If Miroku and Sango's children hadn't of been there to put up a barrier around the rest of us she would have purified the demons behind her as well. Of course, doing so almost killed her." He scratched his head a little, and then blinked up at me like he had just remembered I was there. "Let's give you guys a physical body, how does that sound?"

"You can do that?" Miroku asked quickly, eyeing him. "We're not going to turn out like Kikyo are we?" Souta had learned about Kikyo from Kagome. Eventually she had gotten tired of him asking her and she had just explained everything about her to him… I hoped he didn't plan to do that to us.

"No." He laughed, waving his hand like that was the silliest idea in the world. "I can give you back your own bodies. Well… Not really your own… Technically they would be reborn, but you wouldn't be made from clay; you would be creating your old bodies from new ones."

He wasn't making any sense… I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. How was I supposed to create my old body from a new one? Was I just supposed to jump into a human and take over? No. That wouldn't happen. That would just mean I'm using someone. Not to mention that I wouldn't have any of my demonic powers; none of the powers I had worked for five hundred years to perfect and master, to train and strengthen… I wasn't about to give those up. There was just one other thing that was bothering me…

"But didn't we die yesterday?" I asked him curiously, following him as he indicated for us to do. I didn't follow him of my own free will; it was almost like my soul was locked to his, and I had to go wherever he went.

Souta laughed again, shaking his head quickly. "No, no. You died a long, long time ago."

"How long?" Sango whispered, and I was wondering the same thing she was; were any of our loved ones still alive? Was Kagome still alive? If she was, would she be the same person I once knew? Would she welcome me with open arms? Or had she already found someone else?

"Five hundred years. Give or take."

Five. Hundred. Years. I had been dead for five hundred years!? That was definitely to long! I didn't think Kagome would still be around, if she loved me half as much as she said she did then she wouldn't have been able to live very long without me… I knew she would have had a the life span of a demon; Sesshomaru had made her pack before I died… As we 'floated' behind the boy, another question popped into my mind. This was a question that I probably should have thought about earlier. If we had been dead for five hundred years, how did this boy plan on bringing me back to life! … And how was he still alive? Did Sesshomaru make him pack too?

Sango and Miroku said nothing behind me, but after a quick glance over my shoulder I saw that their mouths had dropped open. They couldn't believe what they were hearing, and I didn't blame them… Five hundred bloody years. And it felt like yesterday… I guess that was what it was like to die; no afterlife at all, just nothingness until someone called your soul back into the world…

"How did you get us here?" I asked after a pause, Souta had stopped in front of the well house. He was staring at it blankly, almost like he couldn't decide if he wanted to go in or not. As we waited for him to answer, he slowly sighed and turned away from it. He started towards the house.

"It was easy. I just summoned your souls. I had to call them from the day you died, so you would have the best chance…" I knew if I had a physical body, my head would hurt. "When you have five hundred years to train your spiritual powers, especially when you come from a bloodline like mine, the possibilities are endless. Of course, I'm the first male with any spiritual power in my family; but that's irrelevant… It was actually surprising." He blinked again as he stopped in front of the house, and he turned to look at us. Once again there was an expression on his face like he had forgotten we were there. I frowned at him, what was wrong with this kid? Had he hit his head? Been cursed by someone?

"Souta, what happened to you?" Sango voiced my question, and Souta just laughed nervously.

"Um… That's a long list. Being a member of the Higurashi family tends to paint a target on your back." He shrugged, pushing the door open. It creaked and groaned in protest, and I winced at the smell of dust in the house. The wood on the inside was rotting, falling in some places, and the one glorious house looked like it was someone's grave…

"I meant specifically. Why do you keep forgetting we're here?"

"Oh you noticed?" He asked absently, stopping in the hallway to stare at the living room. He sighed again, and then turned fully to us. "I've been possessed, beaten, bruised, cursed, and I've had my brain probed with a stick." He shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "To be honest, everyone's surprised that my mind is even still intact. So I tend to be a little forgetful… It's a lot better than being dead." I glared at him, but he didn't seem to notice or he didn't care. He did have a point though… Forgetting things was much better than being dead.

He turned again, and led up to the kitchen. I could smell mold all over that room, and it made me want to gag. I wondered for a moment how I could smell anything if I didn't actually have a physical body, but I decided that I might as well be grateful for that one little power. As we rounded the corner, I saw, laying in the middle of the kitchen where the table used to be, three humans… Who appeared to be sleeping.

The first one, the one that was closest to the door, was a male. I couldn't really tell from the way he was laying, but he looked to be about five foot nine. His hair was dark black, and the set of his face suggested that he had a strong jaw and high cheek bones. His nose had been broken at least once. There was a scar on the side of his neck, just below the pulse point under his jaw. I wondered for a moment how he could have gotten such a scar and lived to tell the story behind it. But I figured that since he was sleeping and probably couldn't see me even if he was awake that I wasn't going to find out.

The second one was a women. From the way she was laying she appeared to be a little taller than the first human, but not by much. Her hair was short, dark brown, and the bangs settled on her face. The ends gathered around her shoulders. She looked petite, with very little muscles on her body. As far as I could tell, she had no scars, but most of her body was obscured by the tight leather outfit she was wearing.

The third was another man. And at first glance he did appear to be human; until I saw the small fang poking out of the corner of his mouth. His hair was also black, falling around his jaw line. I stared at his face for a moment, trying to figure out why he looked so familiar… But I couldn't place where I knew him from.

"Um.. .Souta?" Sango asked slowly, eyeing the people in the room suspiciously. "What did you do to them?"

"Nothing they didn't want." Souta said with a shrug. Kneeling in by the women's head, Souta looked up at us with a smile. "I told you, you have to recreate your old bodies from new ones."

"How are we supposed to do that?"

"It's an easy process… Well. Easy for you. I'm going to insert each of your souls into the brain of one of these people. Don't look at me like that, they volunteered." He snapped, glaring at them. He pointed to three papers sitting by a large silver boxes. "I have forms they signed to prove it if you want to look. But anyway. I'll insert your souls into their bodies. It will probably take several months, a year at most, for you to completely recreate your old bodies. But upon insertion, the basics will show. For example Inuyasha, a few minutes after you are put into this body," He gestured with his hand to the demon. "His hair will turn silver, his eyes will turn amber. He will probably get your dog ears as well, but that's about it. Just the basics. Which is why I tried to keep the hair, eye and body type as close to yours as I could." He pointed to Miroku and Sango, and then gestured respectfully to the bodies they were going to inhabit. "I'm sorry to tell you Sango, but this girl is not nearly as muscular as you are; no females are these days. Not unless they're a demon or are a hunter… And trust me; you don't want to be a hunter."

"I am a hunter." Sango said slowly, almost as if she was reminding someone who had forgotten entirely who she was.

"Oh no. The hunters in this time have changed… They're…" He seemed to be struggling for the words. "Evil. Demonic."

"And demonic means evil?" I snapped at him, and he leveled me with a glare.

"Not demon, demonic!" He snapped back at me, and I took a step back from the fury in his eyes. "The demonic I'm talking about is like something out of hell. These hunters are implanted with fragments of a demonic soul, using the same process I'm going to use. These demonic souls have been altered into something that isn't the demon you all know. These souls are evil. They desire nothing but the taste of blood. These hunters can be controlled by the Society, trained to kill whomever they are sent after. Human, demon, child… Cat." He added absently, scratching his head. "You don't want to be one of those hunters Sango. The demon slayers you once knew are long gone; none exist anymore."

"The Society?"

"Oh I'll explain everything else later. Right now, we need to get you into these bodies. No doubt Sesshomaru would have already caught the spike in my energy here; and since no one had been in Tokyo in hundreds of years, he'll probably send a squad of demons to arrest me again."

"Again!?" I asked. Was he a criminal?

Souta just laughed at me and waved it off. "I'm forgetful remember? Sometimes I forget what I'm doing and I end up putting someone in danger accidentally. It's mostly just a precaution. But seriously. We're going to get started."

Souta turned from us and opened the large silver case behind him. He reached in, and very gently pulled out what looked like a syringe; with a long, long needle on the end… It made me want to shiver, but I didn't. He fiddled with the end of it, staring at it for a long moment. He frowned at it, and then grinned like a kid on Christmas morning as the bottom popped off to reveal the silver handle. I frowned at it, and realized that it controlled the inside; I could see the leaver that made it look even more like a syringe. He flipped open the glass on the side, like it was a case, and reached back into the silver kit to grab something else. He pulled out a little canister looking thing, clear as well. He pulled out one more thing, that I had no name for; it looked like a stand for something. He turned towards us.

"Ladies first?" Souta asked, lifting his head to look at Sango. She looked more terrified than anything, but she nodded. Souta lifted his hand and waved her over. "You won't feel a thing, I promise. It will be just like going to sleep, and you'll wake up in the body. Now, it's going to feel really strange at first, you won't be used to how weak the body is… You're just going to have to get used to that until your original body is created."

"Souta, why are you calling us here now?" Sango asked slowly, which made him freeze as he began to insert the case into the stand sitting beside him. He frowned, tried to remember something and then smiled sadly.

"We need your help. More specifically, Sesshomaru, your children and grand children, and Kagome need your help." At the mention of her name, I leapt forward, leveling my eyes with his.

"Kagome's alive!?" I thought I had screamed the words, but really they came out as only a whisper.

"Yes and no." I opened my mouth to say something, to ask him what the hell he meant, and he raised his hand to stop me. "I'll explain later. Once you have a physical body I can actually talk to." He ignored me from then on, and then returned his attention to Sango.

"Close your eyes." Sango did as she was told. Souta seemed to hesitate for a moment, then he reached towards the stand. He flicked a switch on the side, and pressed a button. The machine started humming. The case shifted tilted towards Sango, and Souta turned his eyes to Miroku. "Don't panic, alright?" He said, and then he hit another button at the base of the stand. The hum of the machine turned louder, and I watched as Sango was quickly sucked into the case. Sango was no longer there, but inside the glass case was a swirling mass of glowing silver.

"Sango!" Miroku yelled, leaping forward. It looked like he was going to hit Souta, but his hand just travelled right through him. Souta stared at him with a bored expression.

"I told you not to panic. What can I do to her? She's already dead." He muttered bluntly, rolling his eyes. I looked down at the swirling, glowing mass as he inserted the glass canister into the case of the needle. "This is probably going to crunch." He said absently, and he lifted the women's head.

I watched him curiously, and I saw that Miroku was doing the same, leaning forward and trying to see around what Souta was doing. He felt around the back of the women's head for a moment, and slowly he positioned the needled behind her head. I realized belatedly what he was going to do. When I heard the bone in the back of her skull crack as the needle pushed through it, I felt like I was going to puke. Even though there was nothing in my see-through stomach to puke up. I didn't smell any blood though, and slowly Souta pressed down on the handle. The silver, glowing mass that was Sango disappeared from the syringe. The women's body convulsed, her arms flopping on the floor, her fingers clenching into fists and then releasing, clawing at the floor as her back arched off the floor. She withered, and I watched as the skin on the body rippled and shuddered, seemed to morph into something that it wasn't. It stretched, and shrank, fitting tight around the bones for a moment before it seemed to fill with air; expanding back to its original form. The body sucked in a deep, shuddering breath, and then finally went lack; her chest rising slowly and evenly.

Souta leaned back, and allowed us to watch the women before he moved onto either one of us. Five long, excruciating minutes, and the body stirred again. I watched eagerly, taking note that the two beside her didn't appear to actually be breathing. I didn't know how I had missed that that the first time. Slowly the body's eyes opened, and she blinked rapidly at the ceiling above her. No one moved, we just watched, allowed her to get her bearings before she slowly, and very carefully sat up. She looked down at her hands, twisting them this way and that, clenching them into fists and then examining the nails. Those hands then reached up to her face, feeling it with a sort of fascination that I had never seen before.

"Sango?" Miroku whispered slowly, quietly, but she didn't react.

"She can't hear you." Souta murmured, and the women's head twisted around quickly to look at him. She sucked in a deep breath, surprised that she could, and she smiled wildly.

"I'm actually alive again?"

"Indeed you are. Just a fair warning, it will take several days for the memories of the other women to completely fade. Don't be alarmed if you remember something bad, or something good. And whatever feelings you think you might have for someone that you don't know, just ignore them until they go away. You will be completely yourself in a few days, a week max. But, like I said, it will probably take several months for your soul to turn this body into the one you had before."

Miroku seemed extremely unhappy that Sango might love someone who wasn't him, but I could see that he was accepting it. It was written on his face almost as clear as day. Miroku would deal for it for a week, he would put up with it, and he would tolerate whatever feelings he might feel for someone else because he knew, once the week was over, he would feel nothing for anyone other than Sango. And she would feel the same.

Souta fiddled with the device again, popped out the canister and repositioned it in the holder. He flicked the same switches, and it turned in the same position that it had for Sango.

"Miroku, you're turn." Sango lifted her head expectantly, and her eyes locked with mine. I knew she couldn't see me, but the eyes I was looking into were the familiar warm brown of Sango. There was a ring of dark blue around the pupil, but as I continued to watch her, almost like she could feel my eye son her and didn't dare move, I saw them change. Slowly the brown bled into the blue, taking it over and turning it into the color that Sango possessed. She was left with only the tiniest flecks of blue in her iris, which caught the light and seemed to sparkle back at me. For a moment I kind of wished that those blue flecks would stay there, they added some character to Sango's warm chocolate eyes… But I knew eventually they would vanish.

I could hear the hum of the machine again, and as I watched Miroku disappear into the canister, I was afraid for a moment. Here I was, floating here by myself. With only Souta to see and talk to me. Sango was living again, Miroku was soon to be alive. But what would happen if I were living, and Kagome was with someone else? Had she already found someone else she loved? Was she married? Mated? Had children? Was she even the same as I remembered her? Or would it be like looking at a complete stranger? I really hoped that she would be the same women I knew; the loving miko I had fallen for… But I knew that after five hundred years, it was unlikely that she was going to be the same. I knew it was impossible for her to be exactly the same; I hadn't stayed the same after five hundred years without her… Of course, it had only been a few days to her…

Now I understood how she felt. She was the one who lived for five hundred years without me, she was the one who grew and loved and lived while I was gone. But this time, it was like almost no time at all had passed for me. I knew nothing of the world around me… Suddenly I was reminded of how I felt the first time I entered Kagome's world through the well. I had popped up into this strange world, with towering buildings and beeping cars and ringing phones… I was the outsider again, and I was scared to find out what this world was going to be like. I was afraid to know what was going to be instore for me here, and I was afraid to know what I needed to help them with. Was it another demon like Naraku or Vetis? Or was it something much worse than the both of them? Surely after five hundred years Kagome had enough power, and had trained them enough, to be able to purify any demon she wished at any time she wished to do so. So why did they need our help?

The only reason there could be for needing my help was that Kagome was no longer able to use her spiritual power… Or that she was no longer with them. Had she been kidnapped? Or had someone blocked off her powers? I wanted to voice these questions to Souta as he pushed that horrid needle into the back of the human male's head. I heard that skull crack again, and once again I felt like I was going to puke. I hoped I wouldn't hear that crack while I was in that canister…

Souta didn't wait until Miroku woke up this time to wave me over. He was already putting the canister back in the holder.

"We're running out of time." He muttered angrily to himself. "Sesshomaru and Kagome are on their way here. If I don't get you into the last body soon enough, if your silver hair and amber eyes don't show through by the time you get here…" He trailed off and looked at me with sad eyes. I had sat down in front of the holder, and I was afraid for why his eyes were suddenly so sad. "If you don't look at least a little like you before Kagome gets here; she will kill you without a second thought and I'll have to do it all over again."

"Why would she kill me?" I asked quickly, watching him flick the buttons again.

"Many have tried to use you against her. Many have transformed their bodies to look like you, to get close to her, to kill her and take her power. The first time it had worked; she had almost died… After that, she started killing anyone that even resembled you. There was always a small test first, something for them to prove who they were… No one really knows what she asks them to prove themselves, but no one ever gets it right. They always die…"

"She's a killer?" I didn't like the sound of that. My sweet Kagome couldn't kill so easily… It had hurt her to kill demons that were trying to kill her. How could she take someone's life so easily, like she didn't care?

"She was born to kill Inuyasha. It's hot wired into her brain."

His answer angered and confused me, and I was opening my mouth to answer him. But he had pressed the final button again and I was fading. For a moment, I wasn't aware what was happening until I slowly started to feel myself drift off; like I was going to sleep….

I woke with a start, dreaming about humans turned into demons, and about my sweet, innocent Kagome taking the lives of all of them so mercilessly; not bothering to hear their cries for mercy. She had been so ruthless, so angry; so cold… That couldn't be her. Kagome was sweet, loving, she cared. She wouldn't kill people needlessly.

But as I opened my eyes, I stared at the crumpling ceiling and I frowned. What the hell? It took me a moment to recall what had happened, having to shift through the memories in my head that weren't really mine… A family, a wedding, a baby, a fight, the pain, a car accident, the nothingness… The man whose body I now inhabited did not have an easy life. I shifted through my mind for a moment, realized that he did indeed, have demonic blood. It was faint, but it was there. Dog demon…

"Inuyasha?" I turned my head to the voice, looking at the man who sat before me. It took me a moment to remember that he was Souta, and that the people beside me were now Miroku and Sango… They were smiling eagerly at me; but the smiles did not belong to them. The eyes were the same, but the smiles were wrong.

"Kagome is almost here."

The heart in my chest skipped a beat, but then it slowed almost to a stop. My brain pulled up an image of a blonde women I had never met, but I shoved it away roughly. No. I don't know that women. I don't love her. I love Kagome. I will always love Kagome. I will love her forever. She is my mate…

"I need to warn you all." Souta said quickly, putting away all of his tools and stowing the silver case behind the counter. "Kagome is nothing like what she used to be… She is… Well she's a demon now. Very much like the Hunters I described to you…" I felt the blood drain from my face, and I could feel whatever food this man had eaten rising up my throat. Kagome, a hunter? No. Not possible. My brain once again pulled up images I didn't remember; scenes that the man before me had witnessed. My brain automatically knew what Hunter meant, and I watched silently as the scenes played out in my head. A women with glowing red eyes ripping out the throat of a young child. A man with claws the length of my forearm shredding into a pregnant women to get to the baby inside her belly, that same man lifting that baby to his mouth and taking a bite… A person no longer recognizable as male or female crawling across the ceiling on all fours, their skin turned black and bubbling as they laughed with such malice that it made me shudder, their eyes were glowing red and they were whispering for blood…

"She can't be a hunter." I snapped viciously, startled by the sound of my own voice. It was lighter than I was used to; not nearly as rough or deep as my old voice. The voice I had now sounded, to my ears anyway, like it came from a woman. Sango seemed to be entranced by my voice, and I frowned at her.

"I said like a hunter. She isn't one. They tried to make her one, but they made her too powerful to control…" He muttered absently, waving a hand and dismissing the thought. "Fair warning, she is vicious. She will kill without a second though, and without a blink of the eye. I've seen it. She does now care whose live she takes or what reason she is taking it for. I've seen her kill people for no reason at all other than she was just irritated and they were in the wrong spot at the wrong time. You must understand that she will be angry upon seeing you. She will throw a fit. She will scream. She may even attack, or threaten you. Do not, under any circumstances, touch her. Do not, under any circumstance, act aggressively towards her. Do not, under any circumstance, speak to her unless she has asked you a direct question. Do you understand me?"

"What happens if her touch her? Or act aggressive? Or speak unless spoken to?" Miroku asked, and I was glad he was there. Those were the questions running through my head, but I no longer had the voice to speak them.

"She will kill you. Kagome cannot stand to be touched. After what happened with Damien… Just don't do it. She's sketchy when women touch her, but she is out right murderous when men touch her. Any act of aggression will seem like a move to oppose her position as Alpha and she will kill you. Speaking to her if she has not asked you something when you look more like yourselves will probably draw unnecessary attention to yourselves and she'll kill you. Like I said she—" Souta stopped, his head whipping towards the side of the house that would lead to the courtyard. I frowned, wondering what he could hear. And then I caught it; the low, almost unnoticeable hum of something. Man, this body must have very, very little demon blood… "She's here… Looks like she brought Sesshomaru and Masaki with her…"

"Masaki?" Sango asked quickly, her face brightening. I remembered Masaki… He had been roughly twenty when I had seen him last. Taller than his father, which made him stand at roughly six two. His hair was the same color as his father's as well, but he had his mothers eyes… Sango and Miroku had done right making him; he was one of the best fighters the two of them produced. He also had the strongest spiritual power out of all Sango and Miroku's children... When I noticed Souta was shaking his head at Sango, I matched her frown with my own.

"He has changed as well. Best to apply the same rules to him as to Kagome."

"He's a killer too?" Sango seemed to be saddened by this thought. And I was too.

"Not nearly as ruthless as Kagome. He doesn't kill as often as she does, but he can still do it with the same level of malice that Kagome can; without batting an eye or sparing a second thought."

Sango said nothing, and by this time I could hear them marching towards the house. Someone was stomping, and I could feel an immense aura coming towards us. I recognized Sesshomaru and Masaki's auras with a little difficulty, but the other I only partially recognized… The miko aura that stretched out to meet mine seemed to go unnoticed by the owner, as it was nearly suffocated by the demonic aura that circled it. I knew in that instant that it was Kagome. Only her miko aura ever stretched out to me like that… But how could she not notice?

"Souta!" The voice that reached my ears was magical. I knew it was cold, and angry, but in the voice I could hear the power and authority that it held. I could hear the pain that being here caused her, I could hear the anger she felt about finding her kid brother the cause of her pain. I could hear the restraint she was using and the self control she was using to not tear the house down. But it was mostly just cold and angry. "You idiot!"

"Kagome!" Souta nearly bounced in his spot as he grinned like an idiot. For a moment, I was reminded of the child that I had once known, and I almost smiled. Almost. I was too busy trying to remember how to breath as the demonic aura around me seemed to be trying to crush me… The owner of that demonic aura rounded the corner and entered the room. She stopped in her tracks, and focused her eyes on Souta. She didn't seem to notice us, which I found odd. But I was too busy thinking about how she looked.

"I am going to kick your skinny ass into next week boy. What are you doing back here? You're supposed to let me know when you're coming back! It's not safe!" Slowly her eyes turned to us, and I watched them widen… Then they narrowed and I knew I was seeing what Souta had meant by ruthless…

The women standing before me was no longer the women I had known. Standing in front of me was a monster… I could see the malice, the hatred, the anger, and the murderous intent in the steel like silver that glared at me though thick, dark lashes. The hair around her fell in torrents around her face and down her back. It was longer than I would have ever expected for her. It fell down past her waist, hanging around her knees. It looked like a waterfall of black ink, accented with small little silver spots that seemed to catch the very limited light in the house and shine with an intensity that scared me a little. Her face was more angled, sharper, no more baby fat, and I could see that she was stronger now. There was something about this face that told me not to fuck with her. And I knew it was mostly the eyes.

Looking down at me was not the loving miko I once knew. Long gone was the caring heart, the sweet voice, the concern for everyone but herself. What took its place was the cold blooded killed that stared down at me with dull, emotionless, icy eyes. If her eyes had not been narrowed in suppressed and surprisingly well hidden anger, I would have assumed she was bored…

"No…" The word was whispered so quietly that my limited hearing almost didn't catch it. But in her eyes I watched a tiny spark of hope fly up. Only to be quickly squashed by the anger again. As she seemed to be having an internal battle with herself, I lost my control. I couldn't help it.

"Kagome?" I whispered, so glad that my voice was indeed my voice. She seemed to flinch away from my voice, and I regretted it almost instantly.

"Sess!" She almost screamed the name, and I wanted to ask her since when she was on a nick-name basis with my brother. But I didn't, because I was afraid she was going to flinch again. Sesshomaru stepped into the room. His hair was the ink black that he used when being human, but why he was walking around as a human when Kagome seemed to be flaunting her demonic side I didn't understand. Sesshomaru dipped his head in respect to Kagome, and I felt my eyes widen of their own accord. She narrowed hers further at me, and I wanted to scream at her. Who was she to have Sesshomaru bowing to her!? Who died and made her Alpha!? It was belatedly that I had remembered that I was the one who died, and that it was probably Sesshomaru who had made her Alpha…

"Tell me who this man is." Her voice came out in an almost harsh whisper, and I had to fight with myself not to flinch away from it. She never looked away from me, and I was not going to give her the satisfaction of seeing me scared of her.

Sesshomaru was eyeing me with such wonder that I had to ask myself if that was really my brother standing before me… "I…" he stopped, and I watched his mouth open for a few moments, as if he was trying to speak and couldn't. Was this a good reaction, or a bad one? I wasn't sure if rendering my brother speechless was something I needed to celebrate, or something I needed to prepare for a beating for…

"SAY IT!" She screamed at him again, her eyes for a moment flicking to him. She was angry, and I could see the anger growing by the second. I watched Sesshomaru's nostrils flare, and I knew he was catching my scent. I knew that it had to be mine by now…

"It's Inuyasha…" I seemed to be the only one that caught the hesitation in his voice, because almost immediately after he said it, Kagome exploded. Her aura flared out around her, and for a moment I thought I could see it; dark red swirling with black. Her demonic power was crushing me, and smothering the miko inside her. No, Kags, you can't do that!

"NO!" I watched her head twist back to me, and I didn't realize that I had stood up. I think I had hoped that when Sesshomaru admitted who I was, she would accept me with open arms; but she didn't do what I thought she would…

"Kagome, it's really him." The man beside her had to be Masaki; his scent seemed mostly the same, though there was demon entwined with him as well. More demon than there should have been if he had just mated a demon. His hair was only a little different then I remembered. It was still black and spiked away from his face, but the tips of his hair were blonde… But his eyes were different. They were a pale shade of blue, so pale that if I had been further away I would have thought they were white. He smiled warmly at me, but I was too frozen by Kagome's aura to smile back at him.

"No." That one word held more power and more ice in it than it had when she screamed it at me. "Inuyasha is dead." The words were like ice through my chest, through my heart. I could almost feel myself dying again… "We. Buried. His. Fucking. Body." My eyes widened as I felt each of those words slice through me. Why had I expected her to welcome me with open arms? Hadn't Souta explained to me that people had tried to use me to get to her before? She suddenly sneered at me, and then started talking in that same icy voice again. She lifted her right hand, and pointed two of her fingers, her index and middle, at me. What the hell was she doing? Sesshomaru and Masaki stiffened at her sides, but they didn't move…

"Oh not what you were expecting? Did you think I was really going to accept you as Inuyasha? He's been dead for five hundred years you pompous prick. I don't know who you think you are, or what you're trying to do to me. But I will kill you if you lie to me. Tell me who you really are."

Slowly I stepped towards her, holding up my hands palms out, almost defensively. I didn't want to scare her or make her think I was about to attack her. "I am Inuyasha…" The word came out slower than I wanted them too, a little too scared. And I wanted to kick myself. Great. She was going to think she was lying now. She snarled, the sound ripping through my ears and my chest. In a second I was blinded, and something scrapped against my cheek. I felt it sizzle as it whizzed past, and the wall behind me exploded with a bang that hurt my ears. But I couldn't move. I felt the dust fall and settle on my back, but I was too scared to move. Souta was right; she had just tried to kill me without a second though… But why did she miss?

"Last. Chance. Tell me who the hell you are, or the next one is going in your head."

"Give him a chance to prove it." Masaki said quickly, and I wanted to go over there and kiss that kid. Oh thank the gods there was a voice of reason here, because I no longer knew what I was supposed to do! Kagome twisted her head and snarled at him, and I wondered why she hadn't just killed him too. If she was Alpha, she shouldn't be letting him speak to her like that, giving her orders… Unless he was her beta…

I watched as he bent at the waist, lowering his neck to Kagome's height. I hadn't noticed how much taller she was. Masaki really wasn't that much taller than her, four inches at most… But he dropped his neck to her level and turned his head away; bearing his neck. I nearly gagged at this; he was submitting, and I was sure Kagome was going to lob his head off by the way she was glaring at him.

"Please Kaggy? Give him a chance. What if it really is Inuyasha after all these years; what if he came back. Could you live with yourself if you killed him because you never gave him a chance?" He seemed more confident of his words; even if he was in such a vulnerable position.

"I kill people for a living Masaki. Killing one more would make no difference to me." She whispered coldly, and I felt the ice settle over my body once again. Souta was right; she didn't care anymore… She was a monster now; killing anyone she felt the desire to kill… But I watched as she dipped her head in nipped rather roughly at his neck. He winched only slightly, knowing that even though she was forgiving him that the harsher bite was a bit of his punishment… She went a step further, and nuzzled her cheek into his neck, and his eyes rolled back in his head. I had to resist the urge to growl. Were they together now or something?

She didn't look at me as she lowered her arm. Instead, she turned to Sesshomaru. "We'll take then back to the pack. They have one chance and one chance only to prove to me that they are who they are pretending to be. If they succeed, they stay alive. If the fail, I will kill them without a second thought. If you give them any hint as to what I might ask them to do to prove themselves, I will kill you." I winced at her tone, knowing full well that she was not kidding, and that she could not see me do so. "Do you understand?"

Sesshomaru dropped quickly to one knee, and I watched as both Miroku and Sango's mouths dropped open to meet mine. Sesshomaru was bowing. He was bowing to someone else. He was **submitting** to someone else! To Kagome no less! Oh god, I had to be dreaming. There was no way Sesshomaru was bowing to Kagome… I almost missed him quietly whispered, "Of course Alpha." I must be dreaming. Sesshomaru took orders from no one…

"I'm taking the car back. I'll send Kabuto with the van."

Maskai seemed to panic a little. "Really? Kabuto?" I could hear the concern in his voice, and I didn't understand why it was there. Kabuto was Sesshomaru's youngest (or had been youngest, last time I saw him) son. Surely he could take care of himself. "He's still healing." Oh, that explained it. He must have gotten into a fight…

"All he will have to do is drive damnit." Kagome seemed to have a small struggle with herself, and then she sighed rather dramatically. At least that was the same… "I know you care for him, so because it's you, I'll send someone else." I frowned at him, intrigued by his suddenly bright expression. What the hell was going on? "Tatsumi? Or do you object to her as well?" Maskai shook his head, and Kagome turned away. I tried to remember if I knew a Tatsumi, and I didn't… She must be either a new child of someone or someone not actually related to the pack…

"Since when do you wait for my dismissal?" Kagome asked Sesshomaru a little boredly, and I noticed that he was still kneeling on the floor… I blinked when she flicked his ear, and then started leaving the room. "Get up Sess. I will call Tatsumi from the car; she will be here soon. Oh, and Masaki?"

He quickly turned to Kagome, and she leveled him with a cold "don't disobey me" look.

"If they try to escape. Kill them. Don't capture them. Kill them. Chance or no chance. Understood?"

"Yes Alpha…" He whispered sadly, turning his eyes to us. I could see in their depths that he was really wishing we didn't try to escape. He knew it was us, and Sesshomaru was giving us the same look. How could the two of them know who we were while Kagome didn't have a clue? Had something happened to her to make her forget what our auras felt like? … Or maybe it was because we didn't have our auras yet. We only had basic looks, voice and scent.

I waited until I heard that faint little hum before I let myself breathe out the breath I didn't know I had been holding. I collapsed on the floor like I was suddenly boneless, and Masaki was kneeling in front of me almost instantly.

"Uncle Yash!" He cried, quickly launching himself at me like he hadn't noticed I was exhausted; or simply didn't care. He was happy to see me, and after that "welcoming" I was more than happy to see him like that. He hugged me quickly before Sesshomaru grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back.

"Idiot." Sesshomaru muttered to him, and quickly lowed his hand to me. I stared at it for a moment, trying to figure out if Sesshomaru was, in fact holding out his hand to help me up. Sess seemed to get irritated and snapped at me. "Just take it and get up off the floor brother. I don't bite, I swear." That made me more confused, because I had never once heard Sesshomaru speak so… Casually.

But I took his hand nonetheless, and I was standing I had only three seconds to get my bearings. Because as soon as I was balanced, Sesshomaru yanked me forwards and crushed me in a hug. Okay. I was definitely dreaming. I awkwardly lifted my arms to hug him back, barley touching him, like I was afraid he was going to break. I was starting to wonder if maybe this man was pretending to be Sesshomaru…

"I've missed you brother." He whispered in my ear, before he stepped back and gathered his composure. He smiled warmly at me, something that I had never seen before. He turned his eyes to Souta, and nodded quickly to him. "How did you know it would work?" He asked, gesturing with his hand to the kit behind the counter.

"I didn't." Souta said with a shrug. "Full soul implant has never worked on a human before. Of course, I had people with very faint demon blood in them but that's irrelevant. It very well could have killed them as well. It's fifty-fifty when dealing with souls." I turned to blink at him, but he didn't seem to notice.

"I'm glad you tried." Sesshomaru said with another grin, and then he gestured with his hand for us to follow him. "I assume you have a shit ton of questions. Right?" Oh dear lord. Sesshomaru just cursed… And he did it so casually…

"First. Who the fuck are you and what have you done with Sesshomaru?" He just laughed at my question, and brushed it off almost like Souta did when he forget we were there.

"People change Inuyasha. I am different then you remember. For one." He turned to us as we stepped outside. His arms spread out around him, and he grinned so goofily at me that I thought maybe he was a child… "I stopped giving a fuck. About anything. Or anyone. For a good century I stopped thinking about appearances, how I should act, what was expected of me, what the other daiyoukai were thinking about me. I did what I want, when I wanted, and with whomever I chose to do it with." His grin only widened, and I thought he was on something. "It does wonders. But I actually meant questions about Kagome."

"Yeah, I have those too." I whispered, looking down at the ground under my feet. I frowned, seeing where it was so much further away than I was used to. I strode over to Masaki, and stared down at him… DOWN at him… I was a good three inches taller than the boy. Oh lord; I had definitely guess wrong with the heights while they were laying down…

"Well, lets start." Sesshomaru said, dropping to the crumbling bench under the Goshinboku.

"What happened to her?" That was probably the least specific question I could have heard of.

"A number of things." Masaki answered, shrugging slowly. "First. You died." I was getting tired of that answer. "Second. She was captured by Damien, held hostage and… Well, and she was raped. Repeatedly. By at least thirty different demons…" I felt the blood drain from my face as he said this, and I knew by the way his face hardened that he had killed all of them. "Third. She was taken against her will and turned into a demon. They had intended to make her a hunter, but… They took it too far." His eyes dropped away from mine, and looked to the ground. I could tell that he wasn't happy about this.

I went with the subject that didn't involve me and was going to make me the least angry. "Took it too far?"

"They put too many souls into her." Sesshomaru murmured, sighing sadly. "Each implant can only be done with a fragment of the demonic soul; because if a full soul is used the transformation is too quick and they die. That's why Souta used people who had demon blood already in them for yours." I felt like I was going to puke again. They had done that to Kagome? Forced souls into her head? "They used over one thousand soul fragments… They wanted to see how far they could push the human body until it died. Because she was the strongest miko the world had ever seen, they knew she would be a good test subject. You see, only those with miko power, no matter how small, can survive the implants. Normal humans are killed after the third or fourth soul fragment. This is because when the souls are put into the body they literally eat away the human soul until there is enough room for them to blend with the human soul. Only those with spiritual power can regulate the demonic energy enough to actually completely bond with the foreign soul." Sesshomaru turned his eyes to Masaki, and he sighed.

"Yeah. They took me first. But then they found out that I didn't have nearly as much spiritual power as they thought I did, they cast me away. I only have roughly five hundred soul fragments in me." Sango gasped at the number, but Masaki didn't even notice. "I'm just little under a half demon; I'm 53 percent human, 47 percent demon…Kagome is more… Extreme."

"How many does she have?" I was shocked to find that it had been my voice that whispered the words so quietly.

Masaki hesitated, and I saw him mouthing numbers. Was he counting? "One thousand, three hundred and twelve." He said slowly, whimpering a littler. "She's only 37 percent human…" I whimpered at that number, suddenly realizing why she was so cold and distant. She wasn't even human anymore…

"The majority of the souls in her body are of one species." Sesshomaru said when it was obvious that Masaki was not going to speak again. "Out of the 63 percent of her demonic side, 17 percent of that is dragon. 15 percent of that is dog. Those are the highest percentage, and so, most of her powers and dragon or dog related. 7 percent of the remaining 31 is cat, 4 percent wolf, and the remaining 20 percent is made up of random demonic souls that are really so tiny that we can't even count them."

"She was supposed to be their secret weapon." Masaki muttered angrily, kicking at the ground. "An instrument they could use whenever they want to kill whomever… It didn't work."

"What happened?"

"Kagome killed the man who was supposed to be giving her orders." Sesshomaru said simply. "She overrode the programming they did in her head, completely destroyed the "controls"." He muttered the word angrily, but remained rather calm. "She turned on them. Killed her "master" first and then went for the others. Oh god Inuyasha. It was a blood bath." Sesshomaru suddenly went pale as he remembered it. "There were bodies everywhere. Human, demon, half demon, child, women. Everywhere. On the floor, body parts sticking to the walls in blood. Some of them were burning, their skin dripping in acid." Sesshomaru suddenly dropped his head into his hands like he was trying to suppress the memory. Just seeing the horror that was on my brothers face when I knew the things he had seen made me scared. He had never reacted this way to anything… Especially not dead bodies.

"She had killed them all." He continued, apparently thinking I needed to know. "Slaughtered them… She didn't even try to save the other, surviving humans they had been testing one. She just killed them too. When I got there, she was still killing. I can still hear their screams…" He whimpered, a sound that I have never heard Sesshomaru make, and the noise that followed sounded like he was holding back a sob.

"We didn't know what to do with her." Masaki continued, looking at Sesshomaru with the same look of horror and sadness on his face. "She was on a murderous rampage… No one could stop her. How could then, when she had the powers of over a thousand demons? She couldn't control herself, or her powers. The dragons fire was the worst. Oh god was that the worst. For weeks that fire raged and we couldn't get it to stop. We had no way to calm her down…"

"Remember that time you went full demon in England Inuyasha?" Sesshomaru suddenly answered, and I nodded with a thick swallow. Jack the Ripper they had called me… "Imagine that; but only a thousand times worse. You killed every woman in sight. Kagome killed… Everyone. And I mean everyone. She spared no one. Not children, not friends or family, she didn't spare mothers or fathers, or women who were with child… I think once she slaughtered a pregnant women just because she wanted to know what a fetus looked like…" Sesshomaru gagged, and quickly stood and started pacing.

"Three weeks she killed everyone she saw. Three fucking weeks. Do you know how many governments from around the world sent their armies to try to stop her? Almost all of them. And they only added to the body count. She had toyed with them, played with them… Turned them on each other and laughed as they killed one another…"

"Her human time was when she finally got her." Sesshomaru said, shaking his head. "It was almost a new moon, almost. There was still just a tiny, tiny sliver of the moon left. She just collapsed on the ground. We knew immediately that she was human again. We took advantage of it. We took her, locked here away, and helped her control her urges."

"Took her over a century and a half to control her powers completely. But she did. And now she's fine, for the most part… She still kills people. Oh lord does she kill people. Lords, presidents, senators, government officials, all of them hire her to assassinate people. They all know how egger she is to kill, and how easily she does it. Sometimes there's a body trail that follows, if she can't get her target easily… But she never fails."

I was starting to feel sick. Sango had already puked and was no holding her mouth as if she couldn't believe anything they were saying. Miroku had a similar look on his face, but he had gone so deathly pale that I was afraid he was going to faint.

"When did they experiment on her?"

Masaki shrugged, apparently not knowing for sure when. "A little over fifty years after you died. Twenty years after Damien. She was so shattered, she didn't even fight them when they came and took her. She didn't fight when they put the souls in her; she was sure she was going to die… She wanted to die…"

"Still does." Souta muttered, I turned around to see him sitting a ways away from us, playing with a rock… Oh yes, he was mental now. "Kagome wants nothing more than to curl up under a rock, to close her eyes and never wake up again. If it were possible, she would have killed herself long ago."

"If it were possible?" I tried as hard as I could to ignore the fact that she wanted to kill herself… But what I wanted to know was why it wasn't possible.

"Well… Her instincts won't let her do it. Not to mention that she heals so fast she might heal before she could bleed out. She tried poisoning herself. Her body is used to it, considering some of the dragon part of her is an acid dragon; her body is pretty much made of poison anyway." Masaki actually laughed now, and he turned to Sesshomaru. "Remember her favorite way to kill someone?"

"Kiss them and poison them at the same time…" Sesshomaru whispered, and he shook his head. "How she can get the fool to swallow the poison without them noticing is beyond me."

"Kagome is a killer with many talents." Souta muttered angrily, and he turned away from all of us. I could tell how angry Souta was with the situation; he didn't want to think of his sister as a killer; as a monster… But that was what she was. As I had listened to their story, I felt disgusted and angry myself. The Kagome I knew was no longer living, she was a monster now, and she did nothing but kill. I had seen for myself how easily she would have killed me, would have blown my head off without a second though.

As I was about to answer, a low humming reached my ears. I looked up as the shadow passed over us, and I paled again. What the hell was this!? It looked like a car, like one of the delivery vans I had been used to. But it was flying, moving through the air and making almost no noise at all. I was sure if this body hadn't of hand a little of demon blood I wouldn't have heard it. As it settled on the ground, the doors open, and a young women stepped out. Her hair was long, blonde, and feel around her head like a halo. Her eyes were a brilliant shade of green, and by her scent I knew that she had to be at least related to Shippou.

"Tatsumi." Masaki grinned, and then he motioned for us to get into the… Vehicle. I was a little afraid of it, but Sesshomaru, Masaki and Souta stepped into it easily so I did as well.

"We have a long ride ahead of us. Alpha has informed me that you are in need of some more clothes Masaki…" Tatsumi said with a quick wiggle of her eyebrows. Masaki's face turned a dark shade of red, and I could only imagine why he needed new clothes. "So we are stopping off at the warehouse before we head back to the den. Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, it would be best if you slept. Alpha would rather prefer you did not know how to get out our den…"

I was a little disturbed by what she said, but before I react she leapt forward and stuck something to my neck. I heard something whistle, and the next thing I knew I was forgetting how to use my arms. I felt sleepy, my eyelids were heavy… And then I was floating in the darkness before I dreamt.

And when I dreamt, I dreamed of ladies turned into monsters, of blood and screamed. I saw the women I once loved standing over me with blood on her hands, her eyes cold and emotionless as she smirked down at me with that blood thirsty smile… There was blood on her face, on her lips… And she was whispering my name as she sliced her hand down to rip out my throat.


	4. 3 Bloodshed and Questions

The Demons in my Head.

Summary; She was no longer the women I know; she was now a monster. Long gone was the caring heart, the sweet voice, the concern for everyone but herself. In it's place was the cold blooded killed that stared down at me with dull, emotionless, icy eyes. What happened to you Kagome?

He couldn't be here. He died. He died in the time I was born in; he died with the explosion that destroyed my home. I buried his body. I watched as they lowered him into the ground. His body rotted away; this can't be him. But what if it is him? ...Where have you been these five hundred years Inuyasha?

Chapter Three; Bloodshed and Questions

As much as I wished to be angry, as much as I wished I could just go out and kill something to get rid of the anger that I didn't even feel, I couldn't. I couldn't because I wasn't angry. Instead, I was hopeful. I was wishing that the man I had seen was the real Inuyasha, I was wishing that he had finally come back, that he hadn't died all those years ago, that maybe he had just been trapped in some kind of alternate universe, or maybe another dimension, searching for me. I was stuck hoping that he was still going to love me, still going to want me. But all of these hopes were slammed down by the logical part of my mind reminded me that Inuyasha had died, that I had watched him die… This logical part only showed its face on rare occasions, because I was hardly ever logical; I worked mostly on pure instincts. But I couldn't trust my instincts right now. They were telling me two different things. My demon instincts were telling me that man wasn't who he said he was, and my human instincts were telling me that he was. Who was I supposed to believe?

As I made my way into the training area below the den, I ran the interaction through my head again. He had sounded like Inuyasha, he had looked like Inuyasha… No. He didn't not really anyway. The eyes were the same, and the hair, and the dog ears, but his face had been off. It wasn't quite right… It didn't fight the image I had committed to memory of Inuyasha's face. It wasn't him. This was an imposter. There was no way that man had been Inuyasha. It just wasn't possible. The bastard had left me five hundred years ago, had went and died on me, and we buried his fucking body in the ground for the maggots to eat… I wish we had cremated him. I think he would have preferred that too having bugs eating away at his rotting flesh. But I just couldn't bear to put him into a fiery inferno, I had always been hoping he was going to rise out of that damned box and ask me what the fuck I was crying for.

But he had never got out of that box. He never asked me what the fuck I was crying for. I never saw him again, unless it was in my dreams. And even then I only replayed the memories I had. Usually it was just him promising me he would never leave me, or when he asked me to be his mate, when proposed to me because he was respecting my human side and wanted to be with me in every sense of the word. The night we first made love, and then all the times after that. When I told him I was pregnant and he was so happy… Those were my best memories, those were the good memories I had, the dreams that made me cry when I woke up. My nightmares were worse. All of our fights; our worst one when I said I hated him and didn't speak to him for days. The second night after I said I hated him, when I was attacked and I lost the baby. And most often, the day that he died when I just stood there and did nothing to help him.

The logical part of my mind flared up again, which made me a little suspicious. Logical me twice in five minutes? What was up with that? But, my logical side reminded me that there was nothing I could have done, nothing that any of us could have done. None of us could even figure out how they had died. The only injuries they had weren't life threatening, mostly just small cuts and cruises. Sesshomaru had his suspicions that it had something to do with the light that had been blinding us, that had them screaming… But we could never prove it, because we never saw that light again.

I shook my head with a vicious snarl, startling one of the newer members to our pack as I brushed past him. I didn't remember his name, I don't think I even really bothered to know it. I knew the moment I saw him that he wouldn't last long here, not in my pack; not when I had such high expectations of everyone here. He had only been here a week, and he was squeamish. I was going to end up killing him soon. Those who couldn't keep up needed to be eliminated. I ran an elite pack. I think it was Masaki who had convinced me to give him a try to begin with… Kabuto hadn't been pleased with that, but I had humored him. I think Kabuto might be happy when I kill him, since the newbie obviously had a thing for his mate.

I shook my head again, pushing open the doors to the training area. I needed to fucking focus. I need to burn off some steam. I stood in the empty training room for a moment, turning my head to look at the racks of weapons sitting on the sidelines. I wondered if I should use any of them, if I should even try with them, I almost always ended up breaking the fucking things. As I stared at the collection of swords, the idea on how to test "Inuyasha" came to mind. Tetsusaiga. The sword would definitely tell me if this was the real Inuyasha or not. There would be no room for doubt. Only Inuyasha had ever been able to use the sword. Not even I or Masaki, who were both technically half demons, could use the sword. And Masaki even had someone to protect.

"Fucking focus!" I yelled at myself, my hand slapping my check before I could tell it to do so. I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths, searching my brain for something; one of the simulations I could run that would give me a good work out and let me blow off the most steam. And it came to me. I smirked as I opened my eyes.

"Computer, run Naraku simulation three." The computer hummed back with a low "request acknowledged" and I was reminded of the show I used to watch five hundred years ago, Star Trek… I wonder if the person who had designed this technology had that show in mind. Although, I doubted it. This technology was created two hundred years after it was gone. It was unlikely the designer even knew about that show.

Slowly the metal room around me changed, and shifted. It looked like fog was shimmering around me, but the scene was changing. Trees were forming around me, swirling in the fog. I could smell the ground, the earth that was slowly shifting under my feet. I could hear birds chirping all around me. I could smell the faint aroma of lower class demons, mostly insects and reptiles. I tried not to whimper as the forest of Inuyasha took form around me. It wasn't real, the forest was gone, all that was left was the Goshinboku. I took a deep breath, loving the smell of the clean air. I was always impressed by the simulators; they always seemed to be like transporters, like they were really taking me back in time, to wherever I wanted to be; no stupid well required.

And right now, I was standing in feudal Japan, with the wind in my hair and the smell of the trees around me. A grin stretched across my face, and I immediately reached into my pocket for the tie I had left there. I scooped my hair up, running my fingers thorough my hair to make it semi-smooth as I tied it into a ponytail high on my head, much like Sango had done in this time, and I headed into the forest. In this simulation, only one thing was the same. You had to reach the Goshinboku before you ever got whiff of Naraku. I was nervous about seeing the tree in the simulation, like always. Because here I could feel the magic from the tree, pulsing and warming me to the core. I didn't want to feel that today, I just wanted to kill something.

So, as I was walking through the forest, I flicked my wrists out, sending sort waves of my demonic energy in the form of knives towards any of the animals that I passed. Some of them gave out weird little squeals, but it wasn't enough. I sighed, feeling the irritation, and the anger, the hope and the doubt welling up in me. I needed to let it out or I was going to explode… I could see the Goshinboku up ahead, and I knew I was close. As soon as I stepped just inside of the tiny clearing that surrounded it, I stopped, feeling overwhelmed. My head felt like it was on fire, and the thousand demons in my head roared to life, barking orders and screaming at me. They wanted blood, needed to taste blood. They squirmed inside my head, setting my mind ablaze with demonic fury. A snarl ripped through my throat, and I felt my eyes pulse.

I dropped to the forest floor, my hands shooting to my head. I felt my demonic aura flare out around me, pressing down on the plants and animals. Almost in slow motion I watched at the grass around me flattened like a crop circle. My body ignited, I felt like I was standing in dragon fire, like my skin was melting away and I was soon going to be nothing but a pile of ash.

And as soon as the pain had started, it was gone. I was left panting and sweating on the grass, my claws dug into the skin on my skull. I dislodged my claws, and almost sighed with relief as I felt the skin heal over immediately. I wiped away the little blood that had dripped down my face and slowly stood on my shaky legs. I took three deep breaths, and then opened my eyes again to look at the world around me. I hated those episodes, hated them more than I hated to lose. They were a sign of weakness, the only sign that I couldn't handle the demons in me. The only people who had ever seen me like that were Masaki, only because he had the same episodes, and Sesshomaru, because it was impossible to hide anything from the daiyoukai.

I pretended nothing happened as I sniffed out the area, looking for Naraku's scent. I found it, almost immediately, and I followed it quickly. He was always in a different spot, even though it was the same simulation. It was strange, almost like the computer generated Naraku actually had a mind of his own. I knew that wasn't possible, because we didn't even make him out of anything that came from Naraku. All we did was recreate how he looked from our own memories. I followed the scent to the outskirts of the forest, and I stared up at the cliff face that loomed over me. I frowned, not remembering this part of the simulation. When had we put in a cliff? I ran over the modifications quickly in my head, remembering all the times Masaki had asked to add things to several simulations. That was when it clicked, he put in a cliff in this simulation to help with his climbing and maneuvering. Right.

I scanned the cliff face slowly, looking for any caves or crevices that Naraku could be hiding in. I saw none. I growled, scenting the air again. He was here, I could smell him. But there was nowhere for him to go, so why the hell was I staring at the face of this cliff if he wasn't on it? Something moved behind me, and I jumped out of the way just in time for the cliff where I had been standing to explode with a tentacle. Naraku's laugh ringed in my ears, and I twisted around to face with him a snarl. I crouched, my fangs bared and my hand raised with the claws extended.

He moved out of the trees, his red eyes blazing with his intention to kill me. It shook me every time I saq this simulation, because he looked and smelled and felt so real. His tentacles could wound me, could make me bleed. His black blood would run through my fingers whenever I cut him, and his miasma made me gag. His hair was always greased back, and the bone armor he wore looked like even more disgusting than it had the first time I had laid eyes on it. This simulation was always enough to make me shudder, to make my long lost fears from the feudal era rise up again and made me want to curl up in a ball, close my eyes and remind myself that he was dead, dead a thousand years, that his bones had probably turned to ash somewhere in the ground.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Naraku murmured in his sickening voice. It made my stomach roll but I just snarled.

"Oh save it." I snapped. "I'm just here to kill you." Before he could answer, I launched myself at him, claws extended, my spiritual energy crackling at my finger tips. It kind of looked like I had lightning coming out of my skin, flaring out around me like a cocoon to protect me. Naraku seemed surprised by my attack, and I almost laughed. These simulations were so real…

My spiritual energy shattered the barrier her had put up around himself, it splintered like wood and scattered around us like broken glass. He looked even more shocked, and as my claws sunk into the soft flesh of his chest, I let myself go. I lost myself, lost my mind, in the scent and the feel of his blood rolling over my skin, slipping through my fingers and pooling on the ground beneath us. His cry of shock and pain sounded like music to my ears, a melody that begged me to repeat it. I didn't pay any attention to the miasma that poured from his wounds with his bloods, ignored the way it stung my skin and burned my nose and lungs. I just ripped and tore, shredding whatever part of his body I could get my hands on. He moved away, his body healing as quickly as mine did, and the snarled that were being forced out of my chest sounded more like a wild dog that a demon. That was fine. I was too lost to care.

His tentacles lashed out, swiping at me like he thought he was actually going to attack me. How silly of him. He would never touch me. I was invincible! I could not be killed! I jumped to the side, leaping forward as soon as my feet touched the ground and sent myself at him again like I had the first time. He was prepared, and I hit the wall of tentacles with a loud smack. My vision blurred for a moment as miasma burned my eyes, and I heard a low ringing in my ears. He slammed the wall of flesh down, flattening it, and me, to the ground under him. His evil cackling made my ringing ears hurt.

As the tentacles slide off me, moving down my body almost like a lover, I felt sick to my stomach. And it was as these disgusting pieces of flesh moved off me that I realized my mistake. I had allowed myself to get too arrogant, had thought of myself the way everyone else in the world viewed me. I was the monster hiding in the closet, I was the scary things that went bump in the night. I was the nightmare that followed you into your waking hours. The world viewed me as a danger, a threat, a monster that knew only how to kill. Many of them want me dead, had tried to kill me, all of them had failed. To the world I was invincible, to the world, I was the essence of immortal. As far as the world was concerned, I could not die. I have had my head lopped off, my heart ripped out, have been cut in half both horizontally and vertically, and yet, here I stood (or rather, here I lay) still moving and breathing and _living_.

But that was only because none of them knew the real way to kill me. I was not invincible, I was not immortal. I could die. I just kept that little secret to myself. No one, not even Masaki, knew the 'correct' way to kill me.

As I thought this, I was suddenly humble, and my mind cleared. I found my way back from the bloody haze that made me seek the death of the simulation above me. But I was still too lost in my thoughts to really notice when Naraku brought his tentacles down again. One of them pierced my side, ripping into the flesh like I was made of butter. I hissed, but did not cry out as Naraku continued to laugh above me.

"You're not as tough as you seemed to be Kagome." He murmured, his voice dripping with acid before he resumed his horrid laughing. Oh, I was so going to rip out his vocal cords. With a snarl, I sliced the tentacle in my side, wincing only slightly as the miasma poured out of it and into my wound. That was going to slow the healing down considerably. Only poison seemed to make me heal like a normal half demon.

I rolled away from the tentacles, easily maneuvering myself to stand, a little shakily, on the ground in front of him. The world spun for a moment, and I knew it was the combination of the miasma in my side and the two blows to the head I had received when I hit his tentacles and then the ground. I took a moment to appreciate how _real_ the simulation was, and then I was on him again, using his tentacles to my own advantage. I ran along them, jumping from tentacle to tentacle when I realize my path is blocked. He can do nothing to stop my path, and I decided I should go with a more tactical approach, rather than just brute strength. I would do that after I ripped out his bloody vocal cords.

As I leapt at him, I felt a smirk spreading across my face. I reached his neck, swiping at it with my claws again. He gurgled as blood bubbled up in his mouth, and I flipped back away from him. Even though I would have loved to relish in the feel of his blood running over my hands for a little longer, I didn't really want him spitting blood out on me.

As he attempted to heal the wound in his neck, I closed my eyes and concentrated. I called to the strongest part of my blood, to the strongest demons in my head. The dragon in me roared itself to life, and my eyes flashed open. Heat flooded my hands, swirling around my arms. The fire that swirled there licked at my skin like a caring pet, warming me even though I could feel the blood pulsing to the surface of my skin. This was the price I had to pay to use my dragon fire. My body was not built to handle the fire, not built to control it or create it. The fire came from my blood, the longer I used it, the more likely it was that my skin was going to burst and my arms would start bleeding. But I was a fast healer, and almost instantly the wounds would close, allowing me to use the fire even longer… A blessing and a curse I suppose.

The fire flared out around me, sizzling behind me like a pair of wings. I snarled, feeling the pain in my head flare up again. I ignored it as best I could, and I danced away from his tentacles again. There was no other way to describe it. I just danced out of his read. I leapt up onto the cliff face, using random jutting rocks as leverage until I was nearly to the top. Then I jumped as high as I could, dug my heels into the rocks and launched myself backwards away from the cliff. I flipped, so I was looking down at him, and he didn't seem to realize what I was doing because he had moved directly under me. Stupid computer programs…

I curled two of my fingers down, leaving my pointer and middle finger extended like I had when I had threatened fake Inuyasha. I snarled as I thought the name, and I felt the blood pulse behind my eyes. I knew they were darker, I knew how they would look to anyone who saw me. The silver iris would have been replaced by a pulsing, glowing red that seemed to snarl with me. There would have been red markings slashing their way across my skin under and around my eyes. But I was too pissed to even bother to try to control it. How _dare_ he pretend to be Inuyasha. How _dare_ he defile the name of someone I loved by pretending to be him. I would have his head on a spike, stuck in the ground somewhere with his own balls hanging from his teeth.

I focused my energy, and flung my arm out away from me, towards the body of Naraku. The flames leapt from my skin, shooting out towards him at my command. They engulfed him, and soon the smell of burning flesh reached my nose. Most demons were repulsed by this scent, would gag at this scent, but it excited me. I could feel my blood pulsing louder in my ears, and my blood lust only increased. I needed to taste this man's blood, I needed to slice him into tiny ribbons and feed him to my dogs…

Another threatening snarl pulsed up my throat as the flames distinguished from around him. I leapt at him, dancing away from his tentacles, burning the others that I couldn't get away from. I pulled my arm back, and plunged my hand into his chest with all my strength. His heart beat in my hand, and I tightened my fingers around it. He whimpered, froze in place. Even if he wasn't real he knew he would die if he moved. And that was I was hoping on.

"Kagome!"

The voice that reached my ears startled me, made me lose my focus. For a moment I forgot entirely what I was doing. My hand released its hold on Naraku's heart on its own accord, and even though I knew it was a bad idea, my body was turning towards the sound of the voice. He stood there, his long silver hair moving with the slight breeze in the room. His red haori sleeves moved with his hair, and his golden eyes shone with concern. Inuyasha stood before me, in all of his feudal era glory. I felt a smile stretching over my face, and I took a small step towards him on the tentacle I was standing on.

"Inuyasha." I whispered his name, but his ears twitched so I knew he heard me. I reached for him, feeling the happiest I ever had in five hundred years. And then it was gone, replaced by a searing, burning pain.

I felt rather than heard the scream leave my lips, and I looked down at myself quickly, looking for the source of the searing pain in my chest. Naraku's tentacle stuck from it, pushing further into me so it could slither around and strike me again. I did not scream at the tip pierced me a second time, instead, I lifted my head to look at Inuyasha for help; but he was not there. In his place stood the imposter, his face not looking right and his body too tall to be Inuyasha. Beside him stood the other two imposters, the fake Miroku and Sango, Masaki and Tatsumi stood beside both of them. Sesshomaru was hanging back by the door, and I watched as his lips moved. He was telling the computer to end the simulation.

I crumpled to the ground as the tentacles in me evaporated. The trees left, the smells of the ancient forest gone from my nose. They had never been there, and Inuyasha had not been there to save me. I picked myself up before Masaki could reach me, and I shot him an icy glare. I marched myself over to the group, and with a vicious snarl that sounded much too loud to my ears, I picked up fake Inuyasha by his neck and flung him across the room.

"How _dare_ you!" I screamed, launching myself at him again. My claws slipped into the skin of his arm like he was made of paper, and I spun him away from me like a doll. "How _dare_ you interrupt me. You have no right to be here! " The snarls were pushing myself up my throat more and more as I stood there, my hands clenched into fists so tight my claws ripped into my own skin. I could feel the demons rising again, ripping into my head and demanding his blood. How dare he show any kind of concern for me. How dare he pretend he was Inuyasha _and_ that he cared for me. This man was going to die a most painful death.

I felt the transformation take hold; I felt my claws lengthen until they were sticking out from the backs of my hands. My fangs pierced my lower lip, and my skull exploded in a fiery rage. My body shook with power that was not my own, and the fire that engulfed my entire being felt too hot to my own skin. Instead of licking at me like a puppy or a lover, in bit into my flesh and burned me. I was pissed beyond belief.

"I will kill you." I snarled the words, the voices of a thousand demons melding with my own. I sounded as if I was an army speaking as one, not a single person promising another his death. "I will slice you into ribbons and feed you to my dogs." I strode towards him, noticing out of the corner of my eye that Sesshomaru and moved out of his leaning position and looked like he might move towards us. The man I was stalking was laying crumple on the floor, his silver hair shielding his eyes from view. He was whimpering, and I knew I must have injected a little bit of liquid fire into his veins. Or maybe I broke something… The tiny human part of me cried with him, wishing I wouldn't do this to him. My human side couldn't let go of the hope that this might actually be Inuyasha. But it wasn't. He was dead. Had been dead. Was going to stay dead. There was no way to bring him back.

"You will beg me to kill you." I snarled as I finally stopped in front of him. He still didn't look up, and I didn't try to make him. I just kept talking. "I will show you a pain you have never known. You will wish for death. Wish for it frequently. I will melt your skin from your bones, and I will burn your eyes out with acid. How dare you come into my home and interrupt my training as if you own me. I am the Alpha. Not you!"

He did something then that I did not expect from him, he shifted to pull his legs underneath him, and for a moment I thought he was going to get up. But he stayed seated on his legs, and he lowered his head almost to the floor. Bowing to me? I snarled at him. He thought bowing would help him now!?

"I beg your forgiveness." He murmured; his voice sounding like spun gold. I found it hard to speak again, found it hard to focus, and I could feel the demons receding in my head. This was not the reaction I wanted. I fought to keep my demonic markings on my face. I would not allow anyone in the room to know how I was reacting. I took a second to shoot a quick glance at the others in the room, at why they had not interfered. I almost smiled as I saw Masaki and Sesshomaru restraining the other imposters, while Tatsumi keep her head down like she always did when I had done this. My demons growled their approval. Good pack…

"I did not intend to intrude. I am unfamiliar with this… technology." He hesitated for a moment and I almost growled, but he continued to talk. "I did not realize what it was that you were doing. I simply smelled Naraku's scent, and I thought you might have been in danger." That time I did growl at him, and he lifted his head, startled. His eyes were wide and I saw fear in their depths, genuine fear… For some reason this saddened me, the human in me flaring up and wishing to comfort him. My demons pushed her down quickly.

"I meant only to assist you." He whispered, as if I hadn't growled at him. "To protect you if needed."

"You are not even a half demon." I snapped, and he flinched away from my voice. I finally taking in that his scent was more human than demon. How had I missed it before? Oh right, because I was distracted by those adorable fucking dog ears. "Your demon blood is so faint I can barely smell it. You had no spiritual blood. How could you possibly protect me?"

"I am a skilled fighter." He said, and I felt the urge to snort.

I felt my anger disappearing, and I realized that I had acted irrationally. I was pissed not at him for interrupting me, I was pissed because of how his eyes resembled Inuyasha's. And the dog ears. The fucking dogs ears. I knew that I was in the wrong here, but I would not admit it. I didn't have to. This man was not part of my pack. I never apologized to anyone outside of my pack. I had a reputation to keep up.

I was about to turn when he turned his head away, bearing his throat to me. My eyes widened, and I almost whimpered. This was such a risky move. For him to bear his throat to someone who had just expressed an incredibly desire to rip him to shreds… I snarled darkly, and he flinched only slightly, but he did not move otherwise. He stayed there, which his throat bared to me. I crumpled, my anger completely gone. Replaced was the desire to take this man upstairs with me, to ravish him and have him at my mercy. I repressed it, knowing that it was irrational. It was true that I took many lovers, but I would not take one who was pretending to be Inuyasha.

I dropped to my knees in front of him, and I heard Sesshomaru and Masaki gasp as his eyes widened. One of my hands slipped into his hair, pulling him to me, and the other gripped around his back, holding him there. I pressed my nose into his hair and inhaled deeply. I shuddered, catching the scent that was indeed Inuyasha. I remembered it, from out first night together. I had buried my face in his hair just like this, and he had smelled like the forest… I felt my body heat up, and the man I was holding to me stiffened as he caught my scent. His body responded to my scent, and his arousal wafted up to my nose. I groaned quietly, nipping at his neck lightly. I had never had someone affect me this way, just by their scent… Indeed, if this man was not Inuyasha, there was no way I could kill him. I would have to take him as a lover, because now there was a need in me that killing people was not going to fix. I nuzzled into his neck, letting him know that he was forgiven, and I nipped him again gently. He gave a quiet, breathy moan in my ear, and I had to clench my legs together to keep from jumping him. He reached for me, his hand cupping my check.

"Kagome…"

I snapped back to myself at the sound of his voice, and I shoved him away from me roughly. For the most part I looked normal, though I could still feel t he longer fangs and the throb of the markings around my eyes. I was angry again, but this time angry at myself for the way I had acted with this complete stranger. I turned away from him shocked and a hurt gaze and marched myself towards the door.

"Sesshomaru, take the human male and the… 'demon' into the council room. Hold them there until I call for them. Masaki, bring the human female with me." I spoke with absolute authority, and both Masaki and Sesshomaru dipped their heads in acknowledgement. "Tatumi, I believe your father was looking for you a moment ago." I had remembered passing him on my way into the den, though I hadn't listened to a word he said, I had caught a few select words, but I guess he was worried about her. I blinked a few moments, staring at the group. "Where did my obnoxious brother go?"

"He's upstairs. Cooking I think." Masaki answered, walking along side me with the human female at his side. I heard Sesshomaru helping up fake Inuyasha, and I almost winced as I heard him cry out a little in pain. I had definitely hurt him more than I intended to do. But I wasn't known for being kind a gentle, no, I was known for being brutal and monstrous and murderous. I enjoyed killing too much to be gentle…

"You didn't have to be so hard on him you know." The women behind me snapped, and I froze with my foot hovering over the first stair. It was the first time I had heard her say anything, even when I had been yelling at the shrine, and beating up one of her accomplices… The voice was warm even though I could tell she was trying to make it cold and angry. I could hear the fear that was there too, and that was an emotion I was used to. I turned to look at her over my shoulder, and I leveled her with my coldest 'Sesshomaru glare'. She shivered under my gaze, but did not turn her eyes away from mine.

"I can do whatever I wish." Was my reply to her, and I started up the stairs. Masaki had his head in his hands, obviously irritated by the way the women had spoken to me. Good, he was starting to sound like a beta again.

"Even beating up someone you used to love?" Wisely the women had waited until we had reached the top of the stairs before she commented again. Perhaps she didn't want to risk me throwing her down the concrete stairs.

I turned to her with a snarl. "He is not Inuyasha. He will never be Inuyasha. He has barely any demonic blood in him. Inuyasha was a half demon. If you're going to pretend to be Sango-" the name came out mangled and angry. "then at least get your facts straight. Masaki, shut her up will you?" I snapped, turning around again and heading to the throne room. I would find out the truth there. Masaki snapped his hand over the women's mouth as he continued to lead her after me.

I had wondered why we had a throne room, but the castle that was our den was built three hundred years ago, around the remains of a castle that had fallen three hundred years before. The throne room had remained somewhat intact, so Sesshomaru and I had agreed that we would use it. The two of us, the Alpha and the Beta, would sit on the thrones and when they were interrogating prisoners, or passing judgment. There were four thrones in the throne room, the 'main' Alpha was in the center, with the throne that would be the seat for the Alpha's mate on the left. The 'main' beta chair was to the right of the main Alpha's, with the throne for the beta's mate on their right. I hadn't understood why Sesshomaru has insisted on doing it that way, since nether he, nor I had a mate at the time. But now Masaki had a mate, and he was my beta…

"Masaki." I said to him, turning with a slightly guilty expression. "Your mate will have to be in attendance." The women turned wide, rather surprised eyes to Masaki. I frowned. If they were trying to impersonate someone who was so close to the both of us, they certainly didn't know a lot about us… The entire world knew Masaki was mated to Kabuto…

Masaki looked at me sadly, but then he nodded slowly. He knew that none of us had a choice. Unless the mate was out of the country (which usually never happened) the beta's and alpha's mates have to be present. It was pack law… He closed his eyes, and I knew he was calling to his mate, seeking him out with his mind the way that only two who were truly mated could do. I found it odd at first, that Masaki could be mated to another male, let alone that male being mated to Masaki. I had never heard of a gay mated couple before. Demons mated on instinct, and instincts usually revolved around producing children. Sesshomaru had been a little skeptical that his son had wanted to mate another male, but eventually he was fine with it…

When Masaki opened his eyes and nodded again to me, I continued. I hesitated for a moment outside the large wooden doors of the throne room, turning my eyes to the guards standing on either side. I gestured with my hands for them to take the women, and they proceeded to do so without uttering a word. I took a deep breath, and pushed the thick doors open. The throne room was large, taller than it was long. The roof was held up with towering columns of marble, carved with various markings and symbols. The four thrones sat in the back of the room, all of them the color of dark gold, covered with red velvet. Masaki and I took out seats on the two in the center, his a few centimeters behind mine. The guards stopped with the women three feet from us, and with a shift hit to the backs of her legs, forced her to kneel in front of us.

Kabuto entered after us, helped in by his older brother, Nick. Kabuto was limping, and I could see the bulky bandage under the dark pants that he was wearing. I could smell the faint scent of blood coming off him and it worried me. Kabuto had been jumped, and even though he had been trained by Sesshomaru he had still received heavy damage. There was still a large bruise under his golden right eye… His silver bangs were pushed away from those eyes, and he seemed to be wearing that mark like a badge. Nick, on the other hand, inherited the golden eyes from his father, like almost all of Sesshomaru's children did. But unlike the majority of Sesshomaru's decedents, Nick did not have the silver hair. His hair was as black as night, and his skin was the color of fresh fallen snow. It was such a contrast to his hair that it made it look darker and him look paler. It was only his eyes that seemed to give him warmth. He smiled warmly at me as Kabuto shrugged him off. I frowned, sighing a little at Kabuto's behavior. As proud as his father I see. Kabuto limped his way into the throne room, and when he was close enough to the throne that he would not look weak in front of the guards or the women, Masaki stepped down to help him into his place. Kabuto smiled warmly at him, and kissed his check quickly, to which Masaki blushed and kissed him in return.

When Kabuto was comfortable, and Nick had left, closing the thick wooden doors behind him, I turned and looked down at the women who was kneeling before me. I don't know why I had chosen the throne room this time. I never had before. Masaki and Kabuto had never been present whenever I found out the truth…

"I will make this perfectly clear." I said, looking down at her. She didn't seem to like that I was treating her that way, and I had to resist a growl. "I will ask you one question. One question only. A question to which only the real Sango would know the answer. If you answer correctly, I will allow you to live, and I will be certain that you are indeed the real Sango, though I have no idea how it is you came back from the grave." I raised my hand to silence her when she opened her mouth to speak to me. I almost growled at her again. "If you answer incorrectly, I will kill you where you sit the moment the wrong answer leaves your lips. This is my judgment. Do you agree to these terms?" It was a trick question. If she didn't agree, I could kill her now. If she did agree she would answer wrong and then I could still kill her. There was no way she was going to live either way.

"I agree to these terms." She murmured, and I almost had the urge to sigh. Damn. It could have been over so much sooner.

"Very well." I deliberated for a moment, and then I decided I would go with a question from the feudal era. The world knew of our adventures, but they would not know of what was said between us while we were travelling.

"The first time Sango saw Inuyasha as a human." I started, leaning forward only slightly in my throne. "What did she confess to me that night during our bath?"

She seemed to think about it and become confused, and I knew I had her. This wasn't Sango. I had known it all along, but I always had to be sure. If she had really been Sango she wouldn't have looked so scared to answer my question. The answer would have come easily to h-

"I confessed that I thought Inuyasha looked more attractive as a demon. I confessed that his amber eyes made his face look warmer, and that I thought his dog ears were cute. I also confessed that I wished to touch those dog ears, but I knew he would never let me. Is that answer sufficient?"

I felt the blood drain from my face, and my fingers unconsciously clenched around the arms of the throne. My breathing turned into quick pants, and I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. That was right… Those were the things that Sango said to me, when I had asked her what she thought of human Inuyasha… I had been surprised to hear her say she thought a demon attractive, as she was a demon slayer at the time. My heart swelled and I had the urge to go down there and hug the women in front of me. The women who had been a sister to me, who I had treated so horribly…

"Kagome?" Masaki whispered beside me, and I turned my wide eyes to him. He took in my expression, and then his head whipped to the women in front of us. He stared for a long time at his mother, and then his head turned to his mate, his _male_ mate, sitting beside him. Kabuto looked just as pale as he did, and the both of them were scared. They must have been thinking the same thing I was. If this was Sango, then this was Masaki's mother. And since it was Sango, then the human male was definitely Miroku and Masaki's father. And how well would he take knowing that his youngest son was gay, and mated to one of Sesshomaru's children?

I turned to the guards, my expression returning to normal. "Go to the council room. Bring me the human male." They hesitated for a moment and looked down at Sango, obviously confused. But I was not in the mood to deal with them being hesitant. "Go. NOW." The fled from the throne room immediately.

My eyes turned to Sango as I stood, and stepped down from my throne. I walked to her, and offered her my hand. She eyed it cautiously before she took it, and I pulled her to her feet. "I am sorry." I murmured, not realizing I was saying the words until her eyes widened. "I know I do not deserve your forgiveness for the way I have acted. But you have to understand where I am coming from. You have been dead for five hundred years. Others have tried to use all three of your against me. I have to be cautious."

She surprised me, but leaping forward and slipping her arms around me tightly. I stiffened, not returning her hug in the slightest. My mind went blank, and I could think of nothing but the way she smelled. Like honey and jasmine… Hesitantly, I wrapped one arm around her, and pulled her with me to my throne.

"Just because you are Sango, does not mean that the men with you are Miroku and Inuyasha. For that reason, I ask that you stay behind my throne, do not let the human male see you. If he answers his question correctly, you will be escorted out of the room so the demon male does not smell you here during his questioning. Do not move, and do not make a sound." I dropped her on the tiles behind my throne, and I returned to my seat just as the doors opened again.

The guards lead in the male, and he looked scared to see me sitting up here on a throne. Almost like he knew he was going to die. I could not help but think that this man was definitely Miroku, after all, his wife was sitting behind my chair. It was likely that if one was here, then the other was here as well. With that logic, the demon should also be Inuyasha…. Which means I just wounded Inuyasha…

No. I wouldn't think that way.

"There is no need for that." I snapped when the guards moved to make him kneel. "Leave us." Again the hesitated, and again I wanted to rip off their heads. "What is it with the two of you today? Damnit, just go. Do you really think my beta and I are in danger here? In the center of my own pack? Fools." They dipped their heads and started to leave before I called to them again. "Have Sesshomaru bring the other to the door. Do not let them in until I call for you." They nodded, and the doors closed loudly behind them.

I looked down at him the same way I had looked down at Sango, but I eyed him a little more curiously. How could they be back from the dead?

"I will make this perfectly clear." I said, starting off the same way I had with Sango. I had to repeat this every time, that way they know what to expect. "I will ask you one question. One question only. A question to which only the real Miroku would know the answer. If you answer correctly, I will allow you to live, and I will be certain that you are indeed the real Miroku, though I have no idea how it is you came back from the grave. If you answer incorrectly, I will kill you where you stand the moment the wrong answer leaves your lips. This is my judgment. Do you agree to these terms?" Again, it's the same trick question…

"You're going to kill me anyway." He muttered sourly, looking away. This time I did growl.

"You dare question my honor? If I tell you I will not kill you, I will not kill you. That is how it works. If you do not believe me, then just say you do not agree."

"But I do agree."

I let out an irritated sigh. "Then why are you complaining. No don't answer that." I raised my hand, and pulled his question out of the back of my mind. "At Togenjyo, on the night of the new moon, how did I shoot the sage?" Only someone who was there would know the answer. The legend here was that I had formed a bow made out of my own spiritual energy, and that was how I had killed the sage. No one knew that the old sage who had been turned into a flower had really turned himself into a bow and arrow for me to use. They wouldn't even think of that, with my ability to make my spiritual powers into a weapon now. Everyone assumed I had been able to do that always…

"The old sage… Oh I forget his name now." His brow furrowed as he tried to remember the name, but when he didn't he continued. "He used the last of his power to turn himself into a bow and arrow that could be used to kill Tokajin."

"Oh Miroku…" I whispered, unable to hold back the emotion in my voice. I felt like crying. Sango was hiding behind me, and Miroku stood before me. There was no way that the demon male was indeed Inuyasha. I had indeed hurt the one who would have taken me as his mate… He must hate me now.

"Sango, you may come out now."

Sango moved out from around my throne, and she smiled so widely at Miroku and if I had even just seen that I would have known who they were. But they had been too afraid of me when I saw them to show that kind of affection towards one another. Miroku, on the other hand, was too busy staring at his son, who was avoiding eye contact at all costs.

"Masaki…" Miroku whispered, and my beta flinched away from his voice. He turned to me with pleading eyes.

"Do you really need me for the last one?" He whispered, and Kabuto reached for his hand, to comfort him. Masaki shrugged him off with a small growl. I growled back at him as I watched Kabuto flinch. There was no need to run from this, it was indeed his father standing before him, and Miroku was just going to have to accept the fact that one of his sons was gay.

"You dare treat your mate that way and then ask to be excused?" I snapped, watching the way he flinched away from my own words. That was what I could not stand, people treating their mates badly. I would not stand for it. Especially not from my beta, when Kabuto was so close to me. His eyes shot to his parents, who blinked and then looked at Kabuto. They were stunned, but they did not look repulsed. "These are your parents Masaki. Do you really intend to hide it from them forever?"

I turned to them, and decided to force Masaki out of the closet myself.

"Miroku. Sango. This may be odd for you to hear, but your son is-"

"Gay. I'm gay." He muttered sourly, turning his eyes away from us all. "I realize this is probably a shock for the both of you. But I am gay, entirely. I am mated to Kabuto, if you cannot accept this then well… Well you'll just have to accept it anyway because I'm not changing it. I love him, with all my heart and soul. He is my world." His hand reached out to Kabuto, and the silver haired boy took it with a wide smile, I had to look away from the show of affection because it made me feel weird. "I would do anything for him. He is my future. I really do wish for your blessing." He turned to look at his parents then, looking down at them with authority of the beta that he was. "But I do not need it. I am already mated to him. With or without your approval, I will stay mated to him."

Miroku said nothing for the longest time, and Sango seemed to be frozen where she stood. Masaki shifted a little awkwardly in his seat, but he did not turn his gaze away. He would not show weakness in front of his parents, that was not how he was. After a long silence, Sango squealed in such a girly way that it had me flinching away from her. She seemed just as shocked by her own reaction, but she ran up to Masaki anyway and enveloped him in a tight hug. I had expected as much. Sango loved her children no matter what happened. As she stepped away from Masaki and moved to Kabuto to hug him as well, Miroku stepped up to his youngest son quietly. Masaki leveled him with a glare, and I knew what he was doing; he was trying to be like me, to hide behind the angry mask so that others didn't know you felt anything…

But Miroku took him into a warm, fatherly embrace and I knew all was well. Why I had even doubted it I was not sure. I had to cut it short though, I still had to ask the other his question…

"I assume the two of you would like to watch me ask the demon-"

"Inuyasha." Miroku cut in quickly, his voice was wrong and it was cold too. I guess he was angry with how I treated him as well… "His name is Inuyasha. Do you even realize how badly you hurt him? You broke several of his ribs, probably his arm too from the way you threw him. Not to mention you ripped four deep gashes into his arm." He was trying to make me feel guilty… I gave him a warning growl, and turned my eyes towards the door of the room.

"Do you even realize that I do not care how I may have hurt him?" I said quickly, quietly, and with so much venom I watched Miroku flinch. "I kill for a living Miroku. It's what I was created to do. Harming someone who had it coming does not bother me in the slightest. Now, Masaki, show them the viewing room, before I ripping to _him_ as well." Masaki nodded and stood quickly, ushering his mother and father into a door on the side of the hall. It was there for precautionary reasons. Just in case someone wanted to view an interrogation but did not want to be seen. The was made of glass, but painted over with a paint that was charmed to be able to see through it from inside the room, but you could not tell it was there from the outside. When Masaki returned to his seat, I called for the guards to bring in Inuyasha.

The scent of his blood hit me first, and I could see that Sesshomaru had taken the time to bandage him. His left arm was sporting a thick bandage, his left was hung in a sling with a makeshift cast on it; at least until Sesshomaru could but a real one on it. I could see him struggling for breath, and knew that I had indeed broken several of his rips. A wave of grief washed over me, but I hide it behind my cold mask and kept it out of my scent. I did not need him knowing that I felt sorry for something that I had told him he deserved. That would be a weakness.

The guards did not come in with him this time, and I was glad. I might have killed them if they had. Inuyasha stopped several feet away from me, and I could see his legs shaking a little. I was painfully aware of how litter demon blood he had in him. I would have to remind myself to give him some of my blood, possibly in his drink to speed up his healing…

"I will make this perfectly clear." I said, kind of a little irritated that I had to say this for the third time. Couldn't I have come up with anything at all to say instead of that? Of course not, I was too preoccupied by my damned guilt. "I will ask you one question. One question only. A question to which only the real Inuyasha would know the answer. If you answer correctly, I will allow you to live, and I will be certain that you are indeed the real Inuyasha, though I have no idea how it is you came back from the grave. If you answer incorrectly, I will kill you where you stand the moment the wrong answer leaves your lips. This is my judgment. Do you agree to these terms?" I was starting to hate this trick question.

"Yes." Was all he said, not meeting my eyes. Damnit.

As I opened my mouth to ask him his question, I realized that all of my questions had to do with when he was human… Strange… "The first time I saw Inuyasha as a human, what did he say to me as he lay dying?"

"You smell nice." He repeated the sentence quickly, almost instantly, like he knew what I had been going to ask him. But again he did not lift his eyes to me. So, instead of letting him know that he had passed, I held my hand out to Masaki, who lifted the case from beside his chair. I took it in one hand, balanced my hand in the middle of it, and walked down the small steps towards him.

"I believe this is yours." I murmured quietly, lifting the lid with my other hand. I watched as his eyes widened as he took in the sight of . Tetsusaiga laying in the velvet lining of the box. He lifted his bandaged arm to the box, and carefully lifted the sword out of the box. He held the sheath between his knees while I stepped back, and he pulled the sword out of the scabbard. It transformed for him instantly. I was about to smile at him, when he turned that sword to me.

"You attacked me." He hissed, his eyes narrowing darkly. I just met his glare with a bored stare.

"I did. Only after you interrupted and forced me to receive these." I gestured down to my chest, only to realize that they had already healed over. There were the holes in my shirt though, which I had forgotten to change before stepping into the throne room. His face twisted into something like pain, and I walked past him towards the door.

"Masaki will find you a room." I said, nodding to Masaki.

"Where are you going?" Masaki asked me quickly, I could feel his eyes on my back.

"To take a shower, change, and then go down for supper. My brother is cooking after all, you don't want to miss that." Souta had been out chef before he moved to Europe for a little while, where it was safer. Everyone around here missed his cooking, because I refused to cook for anyone. I stopped cooking for others, stopped cooking for even myself, the day Inuyasha died… "Show them to their rooms. Put Miroku and Sango in the larger room on the second floor. Put Inuyasha up on the third floor. The room on the left of the hall."

"The third floor? Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. Just do it." I stopped at the doorway, and turned to look at him with sad eyes. "You'll brush my hair after, right?" I asked curiously, because I really needed to relax. Masaki smiled warmly at me and nodded. "Oh and Inuyasha?"

When he turned to me, I winced at the coldness of his stare. How could he look at me like that when I had spent five hundred years without him? Did he expect me to still be the loving women he once knew?

"What?"

"I truly am sorry."

His eyes widened, but his next words were cold. "I thought you were supposed to protect people from the monsters Kagome. That's what mikos do."

"Oh darling, you have it wrong." I laughed darkly, flicking my hair over my shoulder from where it had decided to fall in my face, even though it was in a ponytail. "I cannot protect people from the monsters."

"And just why the hell not?"

"Because I'm the monster they need to be protected from." My eyes narrowed only slightly as I took in him oddly scared expression. He should have already known this. But I let the words hang in the air as I turned away from him, away from the amber eyes that haunted me in my dreams. I finally had him back, finally had my Inuyasha here… And I fucked it up and now he hates me…

Way-to-go Kagome. Way-to-go.


End file.
